Stronger
by asian anonymous
Summary: Left behind by her team, Lucy Heartfilia is heartbroken. Determined to get stronger and show she's not an embarrassment to the guild, Lucy decides she's going to take this opportunity to get stronger. ...If only she knew, she might never come back. Rated T for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Hey guys!**

 **So, for those of you who don't know me yet, my** **official name is asian anonymous, but I'd prefer to be called Pyro. (It's short for pyromaniac. Long story short, it's my nickname and a long-stanging joke at my expense.)**

 **So, quickly intro... This story is (probably) going to be pretty short; I'm thinking less than five chapters...?**

* * *

Lucy was beyond tired. No, screw tired. She was absolutely exhausted. She had practically accomplished the impossible: creating a living dead person. (Hey, she did unintentionally what the Elrics never could... Sorry, too soon?)

She groaned, further burying herself in her duvet. Unfortunately for her, that didn't stop the noises inside her head from bouncing around her skull.

She waited a good half hour in the dark, motionless, waiting for sleep to finally come.

It never did.

And so, that was story of how Lucy Heartfillia ended up banging her head into the wall at one in morning.

Even that wasn't enough to drive the whispers from her mind.

This had been going on for a good week now. Lucy had been functioning on no more than three hours of sleep each night for seven whole days, and she'd somehow managed to fool the entire guild. They suspected absolutely nothing.

And that was due to the reappearance of none other than Lisanna Strauss.

Lucy had been apprehensive about her at first. Not about if she would be mean or anything like that; but if she would accept her as a new member of the family. Turns out, there was no need to worry. Lisanna was a nice girl. In fact, Lisanna had become one of Lucy's closest friends. They got along remarkably well, and they'd had more than enough time to get to know each other better. After Tenrou, and the Grand Magic Games, they'd formed a strong bond as friends, as family.

There was no doubt that the two were nakamas.

However, a seed of doubt had been planted in her mind, this time regarding someone other than the pale haired mage.

This time, she was nervous about everyone else.

After that fight, the one with Flare, and then the following one with Minerva, where she'd hoped to redeem herself; and had only ended up embarrassing her guild even more.

What did they think of her after that?

She was a disgrace, and she knew it.

She knew it, and it was slowly growing and evolving into deep, deep guilt. Guilt and sorrow.

More importantly, she was slowly being eaten away once in possession of this knowledge. She'd suspected it before; but once Lisanna had appeared... She'd been forced to acknowledge it. Lucy could no longer push the painful observation to the side.

Lisanna was everything Lucy was not.

Lisanna was pretty. Lisanna was loved. Lisanna was powerful, and even came from an overwhelmingly powerful family.

Lisanna was a solid part of the guid.

Lisanna was truly loved, and truly cherished.

Lucy... was not.

Sure, she was technically part of the guild. And yes, people accepted her as part of the huge, ever-growing family for the most part.

But it was more like tolerance, in her opinion. She was always complaining about money, or about food or clothes or god knows what else. She was always whining about her troubles. Which was probably the reason she was teased so often.

Now, Lucy Heartfillia wasn't stupid, not by any means. She knew that it was typical for the members of Fairy Tail to fight. And poke fun at each other.

So when Happy had started to make fun of her all the time, she had tried not to take it to heart.

But she also knew that the 'playful' teasing and banter always held bit of truth to it. For instance; yes, Gray was a bit of a stripper, or at least he had stripper tendencies. And yes, Natsu most definitely qualified as a pyromaniac (I'm smiling while I write this part and my friend thinks I'm nuts.)

So, how much of a whiny baby was Lucy _actually?_

How much did people resent her, and look down on her?

How much of a useless cheerleader did people see her as?

The first time Lucy had considered the possibility that people thought of her that way, she'd dropped a glass.

Then came the next stage.

During which she thought a lot about Lisanna.

She knew in her heart she'd been a replacement all along. She had known, and she hadn't really cared. All she had known was that now she had a family (more or less), and she loved each and every one of them with every fiber of her being.

Even when Lisanna had returned, Lucy couldn't bring herself to hate, or even resent the mind-blowingly kind take-over mage. This girl had just been retuned to her family after years apart; how could she possibly bring herself to have any ill-feelings for her?

It was only later that she realized what was coming next.

Now that the original was back, what happened to the replacement?

The replacement would be thrown away.

It was coming, and Lucy couldn't stop it. Now all she could hear was the whispered rejections in her mind. Every horrible word that could ever be said had been anticipated, and was keeping Lucy up at night.

It was happening already.

Team Natsu... her closest friends in the entire world, had left on a job.

Without her.

More specifically, _with_ Lisanna. Of course, they hadn't done it on purpose, to be hostile or nasty (Lucy highly believed that they were incapable of being mean to anyone who wasn't a dark mage or a bad guy), it had just slipped their minds. They hadn't had a chance to even catch their breath after Lisanna's return to go hang out.

She understood that they wanted to spend some time getting to know Lisanna again. But what probably hurt the most was; they hadn't even told her.

Lisanna had offered. In fact, Lisanna had _begged_ for Lucy to come with them. She was too observant of her own good, and Lucy suspected that Lisanna knew what was going on inside her head. Not to mention her heart.

 _And of course I'm back to Natsu._ Lucy thought with a sigh. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, blinking tears out of her pretty brown eyes. She just wanted so badly to _sleep._ Just to be lost to the darkness for a few hours, and drift in a thoughtless slumber. Last week, when Natsu had still _wanted_ to seek refuge in her bed in the morning, Lucy had refused, fearing she'd have another... episode.

The memories of her last nightmare came back like a slap in the face.

 _"I can't believe Master even let you join; I mean, what a deadweight!"_ Those were the unrealistic comments that came first, that still hurt nonetheless. Whether they were realistic or not, they'd sent Lucy's heart into full-on panic mode.

 _"I think that it would be best if we took a break for a while," he said quietly, almost ashamed. "It's just- Lisanna's back, and the original Team wants some time to get together and hang out again-"_

"No!" Lucy burst, slamming her hand down on the tabletop. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears to roll down her cheeks. She grimaced, biting down hard enough on her lip to draw blood.

"Not again." Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "No, _please not again,"_ she pleaded to some unknown force.

She couldn't deal with the disappointment. The memories of what might come, of what would inevitably knew that it wasn't real. When they rejected her- and they would, she just knew it- they would at least have the courtesy to do it properly.

But every single time she closed her eyes, she could see the apologetic faces on the inside of her eyelids, and hear their unrealistically harsh words. Some nights they took pity on her and were somewhat kinds about their request for her to leave.

Other nights... not so much.

Lucy _had_ been training in her apartment, she would admit to that. She summoned her Spirits in cycles, stretching her limits.

But it still wasn't enough.

Lucy wasn't weak. Not by any means. (In comparison to other mediocre mages anyway).

But she wasn't strong enough.

Not by Fairy Tail standards.

It was then that she heard the telltale dinging sound that came whenever one of her spirits materialized. She jolted, not recalling summoning her spirits. (She could wish for them to come, and sensing their master's desire, they could use their own power to open the gate. Only the one in possession of their key could do this of course.)

She quickly brushed the tears away, letting her bangs momentarily cover her eyes as her spirit approached her.

"Lucy? Are you alright?"

 _Ah. It's Loke._

Lucy straightened, looking to meet his eyes through his blue-tinted glasses. She smiled (rather unconvincingly I might add) at hime, hoping he wouldn't see through the thin facade. Sh gave an internal sigh of relief when he appeared to have bought it.

"Oh, hey Loke! What are you doing here? I didn't summon you."

"I came here on my own power."

 _Shit. I forgot all about that._

"Is there something wrong? We were all receiving strong distress signals from you. Are you alright? I thought you'd been robbed or something. Virgo would've come, but I told her I could handle it myself if that was the case."

Lucy shook her head, joyously laughing that her spirits cared about her that much. She smiled fondly at her friend.

Lucy managed to catch him by surprise with a hug. Loke blinked, then looked down at her.

"What this for?" He asked, the smile in his face evident.

"Thank you for caring."

 _Soon you might be the one of the only ones left who does._

* * *

If the hoarse, weak sound of her voice didn't clue them in, her stumbling around like a corpse was sure to do her in soon enough. She'd thrown on a skirt and a top without caring what she looked like, and yanked a brush through her golden locks a few times for good measure. She did have an image to maintain, after all.

The image of not being horribly depressed.

Makeup was carefully applied each morning, just enough to conceal the pale cheeks and sunken eyes. The dark circles were expertly brushed over, leaving no trace of them ever having existed when she was finished.

Lucy knew the disguise was crumbling. Master seemed suspicious of her recent behavior already. Now that the exhaustion was beginning catch up with her, the few people who still kept up with her were noticing.

It didn't help matters once she stumbled through the guild hall doors and onto a stool. Limp limbs and slow, movements had Mira worried the second she laid eyes on her.

"Lucy? You seem kinda out of it today. Is something wrong?" Mira asked, concern creeping into her tone.

Lucy waved her off.

"I'm fine Mira. Promise, I'm just a bit tired. I'm just so used to Natsu..." Lucy trailed off, and Mira wisely decided to not tease her about Natsu being a typical resident in her bed. Instead, she thought back to Natsu's departure just over two weeks ago.

 _"Yo Mira! We're goin' on the request to protect this construction site for like a month!" He quickly shoved a paper flyer in her face, and she simply smiled sweetly at him._

 _"Sure thing Natsu! But are you sure you can handle this on your own? It's kind of a big job." Mira asked, seeing only him and Happy. He shook his head._

 _"It's not just the five of us! It's me, Happy, Gray, Erza and L-"_

 _"NATSU!" Gray yelled from across the room. "_ _C'mon, Flame Brain, or we'll be late!"_

 _"EXCUSE ME WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"_

 _"YOU HEARD ME, YA DAMN PYRO!"  
_

 _"SAYS THE FREAK WITH A STALKER!"_

 _"WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS? LEAVE JUVIA OUTTA THIS!"_

 _As they had left, Mira had smiled, not noticing the blonde in the corner staring wishfully at their retreating figures._

If only she had.

It was only the next morning when Lucy showed up at the bar, trying to to look as hurt as she felt did Mira realize what Natsu had meant to say.

When she noticed her little sister's absence, she was sure.

They'd left Lucy behind.

Mira was most definitely going to slaughter that idiot when he returned. She was gonna got full out Sitri Demon Soul on his sorry ass and kick him all the way back to next year.

And then, she was going to hand him over to Lucy, who might muster enough fury to give him a solid Lucy-Kick to the crotch if she got over how miserable she felt.

But despite all of this, Mira was proud of her baby sister. Lisanna had taken Lucy aside and spoken with her before Natsu had come in with the request. Mira could only assume that the conversation was regarding the mission at first; but Lucy spilled (not the bad dreams and the anticipated push off the team, but everything else).

Lisanna had returned from Edolas still harboring faint feelings for Natsu. But it had taken less than three days to realize how Lucy felt, and she had respectfully backed off.

While Mira wasn't exactly sure about Bickslow yet, he did have a hidden soft spot for her sister.

Which was good enough in her book.

Lucy's body slowly tilted to one side, eyelids drooping, as she almost fell. Catching herself at last minute, she earned herself strange looks from several people. She slumped over, and pushed herself up from the bar abruptly, nearly knocking a tipsy Cana off the bar.

"I have to go."

* * *

Lucy dragged her feet all the way home. Never in her entire life had the walk to Strawberry Street felt so long. The flight of stairs to even reach her front door was a pain in the ass.

But the thing she loathed the most when she opened her front door was the emptiness. The undisturbed possessions that would have been scattered and mostly in pieces any other time.

Because usually, Natsu was here. Natsu was warm, and loud and funny, and he brought life to her otherwise dull home. She'd never admit it to Mira unless she was under gunpoint (or whatever the magical equivalent of that was), but she didn't exactly... mind when Natsu used to crawl into bed with her.

Now she kinda wished hadn't made a habit of kicking him out.

 _I guess I took him for granted, huh?_ Lucy smiled sadly at her empty bed.

* * *

Lucy woke up on her kitchen floor at midnight.

Her head was pounding, an overwhelming migraine making her skull ache.

Her back and her neck ached, and she felt stiff and disgusting.

Rumpled hair and day-old clothes make her quite an unhappy camper, and quite a sight to behold at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Grumbling, she uprighted herself, frustration at having carelessly drifting off only worsening her mood. Though, she was grateful for finally having a dreamless slumber.

But now, what she really wanted to do was shower.

Lucy, with eyes barely cracked open enough to see, stumbled into her bathroom, haphazardly stripping as she turned on the water.

Stepping into the shower, Lucy kept her face down, letting water blast against the back of her head.

 _Natsu..._ she let her mind wander, though she knew it would have consequences soon enough. But she'd already wasted a whole day sleeping; letting her mind go to forbidden places wouldn't screw her evening up that much more, right?

 _I miss you,_ Lucy thought regretfully.

 _...I'm going to miss the guild._

* * *

It was officially; Lucy had royally screwed up her entire sleep schedule.

At this point, it was now 2 am and Lucy was fighting the urge to go take a run or something.

She was full of energy, and she was itching to just be productive and do _something._

She paced the length of her room, then switched to jumping from one foot to another.

 _Dammit I have to do something,_ Lucy thought, desperately trying to keep herself awake.

The second her head hit the pillow, she was bound to be attacked by nightmares, and she was _not_ looking forward to it.

 _A mission! That's it! I'll just go on a mission!_ Lucy visibly brightened at this new idea. _Yeah! That'll take my mind off of Na-_

Lucy's enthusiastic smile faltered, as she thought of the pink-haired dragons layer she was trying to forget.

That didn't stop her, though, from bounding out of her building and rushing to the guild hall.

Luckily for her, Master Makarov was just locking up when the doors came into view.

"Master!" she cried, stopping. proudly, she stood, triumphant that she wasn't out of breath after all her running.

 _Guess I really have gotten a little stro-_

Lucy darkened.

 _Not strong enough, apparently._

She bit her tongue.

"Master," she began. "I want to go on a mission."

He stared at her, bewildered at the sigh of the Celestial mage's sudden appearance.

"Lucy," he began, still staring at her strangely. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. And I know it's late and all, and I'm so sorry. but this will be good for me," she earnestly replied. Makarov seemed to have a debate with himself for a moment, before sighing and gesturing for her to follow him inside.

"Come on," he said as she trailed behind him to the request board. He suddenly froze in his tracks, and spun to look at her suspiciously.

"Didn't Natsu just come and take request off the board a while ago?" Makarov asked, a strange feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Lucy tensed for a moment, then apologetically shook her head.

"No," Lucy answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The sense of dread was swallowing her, as she spoke again. "No, uh, that was for the rest of the team and Lisanna," she said softly.

Master, raised an eyebrow, not sure if she was being completely honest or not.

"Well, why didn't you just tag along with them?" Makarov asked, not judgmentally, just curiously. Lucy's shoulders scrunched together, making her feel and look smaller. Like she was trying to disappear.

"Actually... I wasn't invited to go on the mission with them," Lucy confessed. This time his eyebrows went all the way up his forehead, his mouth making a small 'o' shape.

He wisely didn't push it, though he himself was overcome with disappointment at the young mage.

He ripped off one of the flyers from the board, after inspecting them thoroughly. He handed her the request. Lucy, after reading it over, was overcome with embarrassment as she handed it back to him. He stared at the piece of paper, confused.

"Is something wrong?"

"it's just- uh, this is a two person job," Lucy explained.

Makarov nodded, slowly. "Yes, I know. That's why I chose it. So, who are you going on a mission with?"

"Just me."

Makarov went silent.

"...I'm sorry Lucy, but the only request we have in now are S class quests. And you're not officially an S class mage, seeing what happened after Tenrou..."

Lucy froze.

"Oh, Uh, well then. Never mind." She quickly began to flee, before the water works really started up. Makarov caught her wrist, gently yanking her back.

"Wait," he commanded. "Just a minute."

"No," Lucy said with watery eyes. "Master, it's okay. I just- I know I'm not strong enough for that. You know what," she began with a new determination. "I'm going to train. Yeah, I'm going to get stronger."

Master observed her with a new respect. He smiled.

"Alright then. Go for as long as you need. Just remember us back here."

"I will," she called back, already making plans, her mind running through a thousand different plans.

Sprinting off into the dark, Master watched one of his adopted children run away.

 _God bless your soul, Lucy of Fairy Tail. I hope that idiot realizes what he has in time._

* * *

Lucy's half-baked, idiotic improvement plan was spotty at best.

Seeing as she refused to call out her spirits.

Not a single one of them.

Unless it was necessary, she was going to make sure that all of their gates remained closed. How could she ever get stronger if she was always relying on others to save her.

Master had arranged for her things to be moved into storage in the basement of the guild, so now Lucy didn't need to even worry about making rent. All of her jewels were packed with her, as was her notebook, her keys (of course), and her whip. She carried a few changes of clothes, and a toothbrush.

Now, all there was left to do was leave.

Lucy had her small suitcase in tow, and a few photographs tucked into her diary.

Staring back at Magnolia town, Lucy boarded the train.

"Goodbye," she uttered, looking back at the home of her extended family. The big mark proudly declared the guild that resided inside the building, and for once, Lucy actually missed the crazy yelling and fighting that went on inside.

And in that moment, Lucy had never been more proud to be a member of Fairy Tail.

* * *

For the next five days, it was training with Capricorn.

Running, to hand combat, and reflex improvements. Lucy had been less responsive the first time; resulting in bruises and aches all over. But the next day, she'd improved significantly. Her blocks were firmer, and employed fast enough to shield her vital organ from the blows.

Then later, it was summoning.

Lucy summoned her spirits in shifts, seeing how many gates she could maintain before giving out. Capricorn had insensitively stated that her whip attacks were uncoordinated and less effective when used improperly.

Lucy had even discovered that if she was only summoning Spirits for practice, Aquarius didn't mind as much if she was summoned alongside Scorpio.

She refrained from using Loke, though, seeing as he was still suspicious of her recent behavior, and was resting up in the Spirit World.

Confident that she'd gotten better by a decent amount, Lucy was ready to move to the next town.

And continue her training.

* * *

The man in the seat behind her was really ticking her off.

The woman sitting beside him, who she really, very clearly wanted to _not_ be sitting next to, was uncomfortably scooching away from him. He only moved closer, and Lucy could her her breathing quicken.

"Please leave me alone," she timidly requested. The man only snaked an arm around her waist. the conductor patrolling the aisle reprimanded him sharply.

"Excuse me, sir! Please release the young lady! Can't you see that she is clearly very upset?"

"Who tha hell are you to be telling me what to do?" He cockily was it. Lucy stood, towering over him. He seemed unfazed.

That is, until she flashed the pink mark on her hand in his face.

Very quickly, almost imperceptible to the human eye, he dropped his arm.

"You! I saw you in the Magic Games!" He spun, looking for the infamous destructive Salamander, who practically all of Fiore knew was her loyal teammate. Lucy sighed.

"He's not here," Lucy snapped. The creep visibly relaxed.

"Well then I've got nothing to worry about!" He cracked his neck. "No use stressing over a weakling like you. I saw you on the big screen. You got annihilated by those two beauties." Lucy growled; he was obviously referring to her failure to the guild against Flare and Minerva.

"You're that model, aren't ya? I knew I'd seen you somewhere! Now, if only you could fight good, then you'd be the complete package. With a figure like that, Im 'sure you'd be good lay-"

Lucy slammed her fist into his face, and instinctually brought her knee up like she'd seen the fighter int he guild hall do on almost a daily basis.

"Without Salamander here, I can still kick yoru sorry ass into the ground," she snarled, yanking him by the hair so they were eye to eye. "Got it?"

He nodded frantically, wanting to escape her grasp. that, and ease the

"If I _ever_ catch you treating a woman like that again, I swear, you'll get more than a broken nose next time," Lucy threatened. Releasing him, he scurried away like a rat. How fitting.

As the young woman thanked her repeatedly for her help, and the conductor gave an approving smile, Lucy felt her mood brighten almost instantaneously.

Maybe Lucy wasn't so useless after all.

* * *

Mira was immediately suspicious when Lucy didn't appear at all in the guild hall the next day. She asked Levy, who immediately snapped out of her state of mind officially dubbed as her 'reading mode' (by Gajeel, of course) to shake her head. (She then proceeded to swat away Jet and Droy's hands, much to the satisfaction of the Iron Dragon Slayer across the room.)

She asked around the hall, even Romeo and Wendy, who had just returned from a mission together the day before, and the two attentive young mages had no idea where she'd slipped off to.

Then she'd asked Master Makarov.

Judging by the way his eyes softened, and he took on a rather sad expression, he knew something.

And Mira, being Mira and all that, was never one to be left out on anything.

He simply replied saying that Lucy would be away for a while and some sort of job, and that her things were currently being sorted in the basement.

Mira simply nodded, as he stared off in thought.

 _Lucy... where are you?_

* * *

The train car was rocking.

Just four hours ago, she'd broken some creep's nose and had him escorted to another part of the train. (Far, far away from the grateful young lady he'd set his eyes on.)

And now, the whole effing compartment was shaking like an earthquake was ripping through the ground beneath the tracks.

Which, upon further inspection (and by that I mean Lucy peered out the window and saw a normal cat calmly pawing at a rock nurd in the ground), was obviously not the case. So what was it?

Lucy stood, motioning for the ticket collector to come closer. He obliged, his brows creased with worry. Other passengers around her were beginning to worry, and one of the babies in the back had been shaken out of i's nap. On top of the occasional wail of the infant, Lucy could hear passengers were starting to panic.

"Excuse me, but is there something wrong with the train?" Lucy asked, casting worried glance at the back of the compartment, where the shaking was clearly coming from. The worker, with wide eyes, responded.

"A group of men are causing trouble in the back," the young man helplessly answered. "I tried to stop them, but they've just locked the doors. Something about trying to draw some Lizard back there or something," the man said with a shrug.

Lucy's eyes narrowed.

 _"Salamander. Did they say Salamander?"_ Lucy hissed.

The man though for a moment.

"Yeah, actually now that you mention it. They were going on about payback being a bitch, or something like that. I didn't catch much of the conversation before I was shoved out the door though."

Lucy groaned, tipping her head back to glare at the ceiling, as if it was the one at fault here.

 _I am so sick of this shit._

She reluctantly set down her journal, which had been her focus just a moment ago, and headed for the back of the train.

"Where are you going?" He called after her; showing her _clearly_ hadn't been present at her little 'display' earlier in the trip.

She waved her hand without concern, flashing what amounted to a badge pretty much stating I'm-qualified-to-handle-this-just-let-me-through' at the stunned male.

Her feet padded quietly, as the practically the entire train stopped to watch the savior deal with trouble yet again. (Which was odd, seeing as members of Fairy Tail had a certain reputation for destroying everything they touched, aside from beating the living daylights out of bad guys.)

It was a pleasant change.

She was practically strolling to the doors waiting at the end of the compartment, trying to think of a plan for dealing with that many opponents.

But as an overwhelming tremor rocked the train enough for Lucy's stomach to lurch forward, she decided enough was enough.

 _Screw the plan, I'll try taking a page out of Natsu's book._

 _I'm gonna go with my_ _instincts this time._

She sprinted for the steel doors, all while drawing out one of her shining gold keys.

An obnoxious laugh echoed from behind the closed doors.

She slammed into the structure with her shoulder.

No use.

Using a solid, trademark Lucy-Kick, she brought the doors down. As they crashed, she drew the key down, and the familiar chime brought a satisfied smirk to her lips.

"Open! Gate of the Lion!"

And in a golden flash, there stood her beloved Lion, and close friend, Loke. He smiled, pushing up his tinted glassed with his finger.

"You called?" He asked, surveying the area, and the rather pathetic group of men using magic to shake the train. In the front seats were terrified citizens, one of them being little girl.

 _Crap._

Lucy's eyes dated from side to side, debating whether or not it was safe to jump into action.

There were five men, clearly amateurs, and very much beneath her level. Lucy rolled her eyes at the thought of stooping to this level. Observing them, taking in their body types, and approximate strengths, Lucy was more than confident that she could take them down.

In any other situation.

"Hey you!" How'd you get in here?" One of them demanded.

"I kicked down the door," Lucy stated plainly. "Obviously." Next to her, Loke snickered at the bored tone she'd taken on.

"Where's the Salamander? He's the one I have a bone to pick with," one of them eagerly stated, pathetically cracking his knuckles as an imitation of Natsu. The other one joined in.

"Aside from him, Fairy Tail's like, the weakest guild out there!"

 _They must not have seen Mira, or Laxus or Erza during the Games._

"Yeah! We want the powerhouse of Fairy Tail!" Lucy stifled a laugh.

 _I bet they don't even know who Gildarts is._

Natsu was strong. She'd give him that.

But they were stronger.

He had a strong spirit, and lots of potential.

Potential, mind you.

But he had a long way to got before he'd be able to take on Erza or Mira or god forbid Gildarts. (That was when all of Fiore would have to prepare for the apocalypse. Because even without that ridiculously stupid amount of power, Natsu _still_ could fuck serious shit up even now.)

And now, Lucy was going to catch up to him.

Which, was almost as unrealistic as it was stupid, but that wouldn't stop her from trying.

"Where's the Salamander? We heard he's on this train!"

 _Okay Lucy, what would Erza do?_

Lucy evened out her breathing, before springing into action.

"Loke! get them all out of here!" Lucy commanded, leaping over rows of people.

"But Lucy-"

"I've got this," she vowed with a sunny smile. "Promise."

Trusting his mater, Loke turned back to using his magic to shield the evacuating people.

One guy, using magic similar to Bisca's and Alzack's (so, magic guns) was shooting bullets that Loke could've easily sidestepped if there weren't people to worry about.

Now, he simply shot out little bursts of energy to counter the magic bullets his gun was putting out. This was effective enough, though tedious and rather boring. Pity.

This guy was a) a poor shot (rather, an embarrassment to anyone wielding a gun _everywhere_ ) and b) and the weakest person Loke had fought in a very long time.

The old man who was the last to rush out had safely left, Loke could really start cracking down on them.

One Regulus Impacts sent him crashing into an empty seat and rendered him unconscious.

The four guys left for Lucy to deal with, not so much. One was an elemental mage, and shaking the earth underneath the train tracks seemed to be and easy task for him. Lucy drew her whip, and wrapping it around his ankle, puled back and yanked. Hard.

He went flying, and Lucy flung him back and forth with a yank. Leaving decent-sixed dent in the wall, Lucy knew he'd been dealt with for the moment.

Now, the two men charging Loke suddenly cried out, alerting the hooded man who'd Lucy been charing into.

"Lion Brilliance!" Loke roared, a blinding golden light filling the space.

Lucy, pretty much immune to this due to the amount of times she'd employed this during battles, didn't even flinch. Seeing the opportunity, Lucy brought her fist upwards, nailing him square in the jaw. The hooded man stumbled, his hood falling backwards.

"OW!"

Lucy paused.

"I know you," she said, cocking her head to the side.

"Bora," she said suddenly, recognizing that little tattoo in the corner of his face, despite his obviously aged appearance.

"Do I know you?' he asked. Lucy scowled.

"Yeah. Remember me? We met a long time ago? I'm a celestial mage?" Lucy asked, offend that he didn't even that the decency to remember the girl who'd witnessed him getting his ass kicked.

"Nope, doesn't ring any bells."

"I summoned a mermaid who used a rage-induced tsunami to crash your ship before the real Salamander beat the crap outta you," Lucy added helpfully.

"Ah."

She waited a moment for him to appropriately react.

One.

Two.

Three.

Fou-

"YOU'RE THAT PSYCHO CHICK WITH THE HOMICIDAL SPIRIT!" He accused her, scurrying back several feet in hopes of escaping her wrath. Lucy sighed.

 _Man, is it too much to ask for just a normal day for once?_

Loke sent her a strange look, raising an eyebrow as her punched one of the idiots who'd just recovered from the blinding light.

 _Ugh. My head is starting to hurt._

He'd only caught the 'homicidal spirit' bit, she assumed.

"He's referring to Aquarius," Lucy supplied in a weary voice.

"Ohh..."

Lucy didn't break eye contact with Bora, hoping her level glare would give him the motivation to back off. He was no Salamander, but he could cause some serious damage if he got the urge. However, he seemed to grab ahold of his nerves and reel them after a moment. His back suddenly went ramrod straight.

"There's no water here, little girl. How the hell are you gonna stop me this time?" He sneered, creeping closer to Lucy with each syllable. She growled at him in response, smiling at his naiveness.

"Clearly, someone didn't watch the Magic Games," Lucy said in turn. Confidently, she held up the hand bearing the guild mark, two keys poking out between her fingers. She grew a line in the air, slashing downwards. "Open! Gate of the Bull! Gate of the Ram!"

Right before his very eyes, Bora watched as giant axe-wielding creature resembling a cow, and a goat humanoid-thing sporting a pair of shades who towered over him materialize out of thin air.

His jaw went slack.

As did Loke's.

"Lucy! You'll drain yourself at this rate!" He protested. Distracted, the recently recovered mage took the opportunity to slam his palm into the small of Loke's back. A minuscule static shock coursed through his nervous system, making him stumble.

It didn't knock him off his feet. But it did make the oversized, over powered kitty very, very irritated. But first, Lucy.

"Lucy! you can't maintain three gates at once! Close one of them," he cried, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. She winked at him, as Taurus charged at Bora.

"Oh, I can do way more than that, I promise," he stuttered, slack jawed. She put a finger to her lips, conveying she was telling him a 'secret.'

"I've been practicing."

"Capricorn! Help Loke!" She commanded, noticing that the other mage's buddy was back on his feet. "Me and Taurus will take this idiot over here."

Bora snickered.

"So, you have gotten stronger. Impressive, I will admit," he spread his hands, shrugging. "But I've had years to improve. And, if I remember correctly, you were sucked under the ocean for seven years."

"My turn to show off," he declared.

Rings of purple, foul smelling flames exploded around him, and suddenly lashed out. Lucy winced, feeling her skin reacting to the extreme heat.

They coiled around her arm, burning her flesh.

Crying out, Lucy's concentration was broken.

And her Spirits were angered.

The mage Capricorn was in combat with was some weak variation of a water mage. Loke scoffed, watching the pathetic 'wave' attack.

 _Ha. More like splashing a puddle,_ Loke thought, deflecting a static shock sent in the general direction of his head on instinct.

Capricorn didn't even bother dodging with little spray of water.

Instead, he rushed forward, driving his fist upwards, forcing air out of his lungs.

Loke smirked, almost dancing around his opponent.

 _Lucy, you showoff. You totally could've handled this with just one of us._

However, the next events would make him take that back.

Lucy's smoking arm had been released, and was turning a concerning color around the burns.

Lucy grit her teeth, reaching for her whip with her good hand.

 _Dammit, that bastard. Lucky shot._

Taurus, enraged, nearly beheaded the guy with a swing of his weapon. Thankfully, he kept the boob comments to himself during this battle. (Lucy didn't know how far her patience could stretch at this point.)

The mage sending static signals flying through the air did a rather sad impersonation of Laxus' magic. Loke, with one Regulus fist to the shoulder, sent him flying.

Capricorn exerted the energy used to carry a small child to finish off the 'water mage.'

But Bora was proving to be a challenge.

The injures he'd inflicted on their master had distracted the Spirits momentarily.

What made him pause was the faint whimpering coming from the other side of the car.

His flames working as hands, the slim flames, lifted up a small girl.

"Oooh, how interesting," he mused. Lucy cried out.

"Don't touch her!" She shrieked, tackling him, not caring if she suffered any more burns. He went down, his flames disappearing. The little girl, who had been suspended in mid air, was caught by Capricorn. He gently set her down, pushing her in the direction of the door.

"Run!" Lucy yelled, feeling the wound on her forearm sapping her energy.

Taurus vanished, as she closed his gate to save energy. Capricorn, acting quickly, lurched forward, only to disappear as well.

"Miss Lucy!"

But this time, Lucy wasn't trying to prove how strong she was by taking him on by herself. She had hit her head in the floor. Hard.

Loke was the only one remaining, and he was more than capable of dealing with this enemy.

But before her could even react, Bora pushed them back, sending them through the back wall, leaving a gaping hole. He clawed at the floor, somehow managing to find an invisible hold.

Lucy, however, kept going forwards due to her inertia.

And the moment Loke managed to kick a hole in the wall just large enough for him to slip through, time slowed for a millisecond, as Lucy plummeted down to the ground, about to collide with the tracks.

Loke saw it all, through wide eyes and blue tinted glasses.

Her head hid the tracks and-

Blood.

Lots.

And Lots.

Of blood.

* * *

 **Hey guys! So... Whaddya think so far?**

 **If you have any** **criticism, reviews, or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them!**

 **Thanks!**

 **-Pyro**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

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 **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! AH, THIS IS AMAZING!**

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 **fallingoutboy**

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 **Larissa48**

 **Cassi0chan: Okay, so Natsu's reaction to Lucy leaving isn't exactly 'amazing' or overly emotional but... Keep reading. And you'll see how he reacts to something else.**

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* * *

It was cold.

Everything and everywhere on the whole goddamn mountain was positively freezing.

Natsu shivered, despite his unnatural high body temperature.

Gray, completely unaffected by this, calmly (with his shirt off, of course) trekked down the snow-covered ground alongside him. Lisanna, looking better than Natsu, animatedly chatted with Gray. Erza, walking beside them, was also involved in the discussion. Happy was cradled in Lisanna's arms, fast asleep.

Natsu, however, preoccupied with the thoughts swirling around his exhausted brain.

He was grumpy and tired and not to mention _freezing his ass off_ for the sake of a job.

All he wanted to do was sleep.

Preferably in Lucy's bed.

 _Can't believe we had to travel to the top of this stupid mountain on a stupid job to collect some stupid plant and this whole damn job is a stupid waste of time._

All he wanted was to get warm and sleep and cuddle with Lucy.

 _I should have just asked her to come_ , he grumbled to himself.

 _But I didn't because she's making me sick and I don't want her getting sick too._

Lisanna fell back to speak with Natsu, easily dropping out of the conversation.

"You okay?" she asked, matching her pace to his.

He nodded, shoulders slumped. Lisanna let them walk in silence for a few breaths, before voicing her interpretation.

"You really miss Lucy that much, huh?"

Natsu stopped, nearly sliding down the on the powdery snow.

"What? How did you know that?" he asked, psyched out. "Are you a mind reader like Eric?!" He asked, referring to the Poison Dragon Slayer. Lisanna groaned.

"Natsu, no."

"Ohh..."

"I could just tell," Lisanna responded. "To answer you question. Now, can I ask you something?" she asked, sidling a bit closer. Natsu shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

"Why didn't you take Lucy on this request with us?"

Natsu went silent for a moment.

"...Natsu?"

He mumbled something intelligible under his breath.

"What was that?"

"She makes me sick."

Lisanna waited for him to expand on that very vague and frankly unhelpful piece of information. Her eyes wide, she stared at him, shell-shocked. He fiddled with his thumbs before continuing.

 _I though for sure that he_ _liked her-_

"And I don't want to make her sick too."

Lisanna, clearly confused (as in, confused enough for Natsu to pick up on it), simply blinked at him.

 _Wait._

 _What._

"She makes my head all weird, like I'm drunk or something," Natsu started. (He only knew what it was like because once he'd accidentally downed a vodka shot thinking it was water. It had been an incident that had ended with the Guild monitoring Natsu very carefully around alcohol ever since.)

"And sometimes I get all hot, like I've gotten fever or something."

Lisanna could feel her eyes bulging.

 _Tell me Natsu, tell me you're not so dense. Tell me you're joking._

"And my body gets all strange, and it's strange and kinda hurts right here," he said, placing a hand, on his chest. "And I think I get sick whenever I go near her."

He hung his head.

"But it doesn't fell _bad_ , that's the thing. Sometimes I don't mind it; but I don't want to give Lucy my disease by accident. And that makes me fell guilty; that I might make her sick by being selfish."

Natsu looked down.

Lisanna facepalmed.

 _That. Idiot._

"Natsu... YOU. IDIOT."

"Eh?"

"You know Lucy thinks you left her behind because you don't like her anymore, right?"

"EHHH?!" Natsu cried, waking Happy.

"WHADDYA MEAN DOES SHE THINK I DON'T WANNA BE HER PARTNER ANYMORE IS SHE CRAZY OHMYGOD LISANNA WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?!"

His hysteria-driven rant echoed through the valley, all the way up to the mountain peak.

"WE GOTTA GO I HAVE TO GO AND SAY SORRY AND..."

Natsu's voice grew fainter as he barreled down the mountain, with Happy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A cloud of snow flew up in his wake, showing his path down.

Erza and Gray simply turned back to look at Lisanna, questioning looks painting their faces.

"Natsu's going ahead," she began, brushing snow off of her clothes.

And with that, she began to explain the thick headedness of the Dragon slayer, and the very, very stupid thing he'd just done.

* * *

When the Spirits waiting for the news saw the telltale glow of Loke's gate, they excitedly began to talk amongst themselves.

However, when the Lion Spirit emerged covered in blood that couldn't have been his own, someone screamed. (Can Spirits even bleed though?)

Cradled in his arms was a pale, unmoving Lucy.

Her blonde hair was matted with blood, and she had a burn coiling around her arm, the one without her guild mark. Blood was seeping through her shirt over her stomach.

And she wasn't. Moving.

All they could see were the shallow breaths moving her chest up and down by a fraction of an inch.

Loke was running towards them, but no one moved. No one ran to Loke to help him, or check on their master for the first three seconds. All they could do was stare, wide-eyed at the girl who looked like a corpse, cradled in the arms of the panicking Lion.

The first one to react after that was, almost surprisingly, Aquarius. She sped forward (how she did this, I have no idea, because she doesn't have legs. But I'm assuming she can maneuver pretty well in the Spirit World) and scooped Lucy out of his arms.

"What. Happened." Aquarius snarled in a way that made it sound like it wasn't even a question. It was a demand. Loke exhaled, a ragged breath passing through his lips.

"She was thrown off the back of a train and hit the tracks going at least 150 miles an hour. Her head slammed right into the edge of the tracks, and a sharp piece of scrap metal went right through her," Loke explained solemnly, gazing down at his friend. "And I didn't get there in time. I wouldn't have brought her here, but we were stranded in the middle of nowhere." He hung his head shamefully.

Aquarius decided that perhaps delaying treatment to Lucy to argue with Loke was a grave error, and swiftly, turned away.

"Virgo! I need help over here!" Virgo was at her side at an instant.

"Princess..." she whispered, eyes going wide. Her usually indifferent eyes seemed to contain a spark of emotion this once.

"Virgo," Aquarius snapped, though her voice lacked the usually irritated edge. "Focus."

The maid, looking up to meet the gaze of the mermaid, nodded.

"I need clothes. From here. If- _When_ Lucy recovers, we won't even be able to tell how well she's doing if she can't move." Virgo nodded again, and rushed off to find Celestial Spirit clothes for her.

"Aquarius," a quite voice came from behind her as she gently laid Lucy on a makeshift bed. She turned to face a thoughtful Loke.

"I think she'll survive," he stated. Many emotions rose to her chest, but anger was the first to emerge. She managed to keep it in check, and passed it off as a not-very-convincing cough.

"What do you mean?" She finally asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. He raked a hand through his hair.

"She's about to die," he started, and Aquarius vehemently began to protest.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO 'I THINK SHE'LL LIVE-'"

"You didn't let me finish," he snapped irritably. Sighing, he waited for her to calm down. At least she had the decency to look somewhat guilty. "Good."

"What I was saying, is that she was maybe a good minute or two from dying. She'd lost too much blood, and suffered serious head trauma, and was practically impaled through the stomach," he admitted, warily eyeing the spirits crowding around each other and speaking quickly amongst themselves. He was careful to kepis voice low, so the others didn't overhear.

Aquarius, Loke and Virgo were almost like... the older siblings. They were the leaders (especially Loke, the literal _leader of the stars_ ), the one who keep order among Lucy's Spirits. They obeyed them, and listened to what they had to say. So when they started worrying...

It was time to panic.

Virgo returned with the clothes, and proceeded to carefully collect Lucy in her arms.

"I'm going to take Princess somewhere more comfortable," she said in a low voice as she passed. "She needs a more stable environment if she has any hope of recovery."

And with that, the unconscious Celestial Mage was whisked away by he silent maid.

Aquarius turned back to Loke when Virgo was completely out of view.

"You were saying?" She asked.

"Right. But since she's still breathing now, I can only assume that she's beginning to heal. Which, and forgive me for admitting this; shouldn't be possible. As strong-willed as she is; no one could withstand that kind of damage. "

Aquarius nodded, following him so far. He took a deep breath.

"I think the magic in the air is healing her," he breathed out, the words jumbling together.

"Sprits can't survive very long in the human world. Otherwise, they start to wither away. The same goes for humans, just the reverse situation. The overwhelming energy can and _will_ kill them. But what about Celestial Spirit Mages? They're already exposed to so much of the magic we give off, they, in theory, should be less affected. But Lucy, she's been exposed to so much Celestial Magic in the past week... What if our energy is having a different impact on her?"

Aquarius' eyes brightened just a fraction.

"Maybe her body has grown a certain tolerance towards us, and is channeling that energy towards her healing?"

"I think if she stays a while longer, she'll be okay."Loke concluded. A shadow briefly crossed his face; just long enough for Aquarius to catch it.

"What is it?"

"The bastard who got her burned and made her bleed... She knew him. He was looking to pick a fight with Natsu."

"And then he got away." Loke finished.

Aquarius' eyes narrowed.

"Well, is there any way that we-"

"Excuse me," a timid voice came up from behind Loke. the source of thermal voice taped Loke not he shoulder.

It was Aries.

"UmmI'mreallysosorryforinterruptingbut-"

"Calm down," Aquarius soothed (as close to soothing as she got, anyway), trying to keep her temper in check. (Aries was frightened enough as it was; her yelling wouldn't do them any good.)

"Try again. Slower this time.'

"Umm, well I am so sorry for interrupting you conversation I really didn't want to seem rude but Virgo told me to come find you."

They waited for her to further elaborate on that.

"She said it's about Lucy."

* * *

Virgo had really fulfilled the duties of a maid in record time.

Lucy's wound had been cleaned, and her forearm was wrapped in gauze. Her head was bandaged, and the white gauze was a stark contrast to the colorful outfit she was wearing.

It was a comfortable top and a skirt, exposing her stomach. This gave Virgo better access to the gaping hole in Lucy's abdomen.

Virgo was just securing the strip of bandages when they entered the room.

"She's going to be alright," Virgo announced. Loke sagged with relief, and Aquarius felt a wave of ease wash over her.

 _She's going to be just fine._

"But," virgo interrupted. "Princess will have to stay for a while longer and maybe absorb more magic in the air to mend her skin and repair any internal damage."

 _Alright. A small price to pay for her survival._

"Also... Her injuries... They're going to scar," Virgo added. Loke clenched his teeth.

"So, for the rest of her life Lucy is going to carry a reminder of the day she sacrificed herself for some kid, and was thrown off a train head first?" Loke asked.

"Yes."

"Just making sure," Loke responded, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

* * *

The door was locked.

The door was _always_ locked.

Natsu groaned.

Knocking tentatively, he called out for her.

"Lucy? Lucy I'm sorry for leaving on a mission without you. I promise, I still wanna go on missions with you. We're _partners,_ remember?" He was pleading for her to open up, leaning his forehead against the door.

Thank _god_ (or whatever higher power there was in this world) Happy had decided to go home without him.

It was about 7 am, and they'd spent half the night rushing to get back home.

"Lucy?"

He knocked again.

He pouted for a good three seconds, before deciding to come in the way he would have any other day.

He climbed in through the window.

Sliding into the room, he shut the window behind him (he knew Lucy hated it when he left them open without the screen) before turning to the room.

The empty, bare room.

Natsu felt the entire world ending rotund him. The ground beneath him must have been swallowing him up, right? The world _must_ have been going up in flames. This _must_ be the end of the world because there was no way in hell that Lucy had left.

He knew this was the right room. Traces of her scent still lingered in the walls, and on the floor was a mark he distinctly remembered making one night by accident.

 _This has to be some kind of mistake._

There was no way in hell that _his Lucy, his partner, his best friend on the whole goddamn planet_ (Happy didn't count) had just up and left him behind without any notice.

But then a wave of nausea rolled through him.

 _But you left without her first,_ a nasty little voice in his head reminded him. _You abandoned her without warning. You left her behind to suffer all alone, like she never even mattered to you._

Natsu slammed his fist into the empty bed frame, watching the wood splitter under his hands.

 _Lucy..._ he inwardly cried.

 _Where did you go?_

* * *

It just so happened that Natsu arrived at the guild _exactly_ eleven days (down to the second and everything) after Lucy had left her apartment and turned the key back over to the landlady.

He kicked the door open, and the giant wooded structures echoed as they bounced back of the wall. He thundered in, eyes stormy. His eyes clearly read that he was _not_ in the mood to take anyone's shit today. Not now, not today. Not unless you were prepared to land yourself in a hospital, or lose a limb.

He slammed his hand down on the bar, staring right into the knowing face of Mirajane.

"Where. Is. My. Lucy?" He ground out between his teeth.

Mira didn't comment on the 'my' part of the question, knowing that it would have ugly consequences.

"I don't know," Mira responded, hoarsely. "I already told Erza and Gray, and everyone else in the guild. The only one she told was Master Makarov, and she didn't even say where she was going."

"And what exactly did Lucy say she was going to do?" Natsu asked, leaning over the bar. Mira sighed.

"She apparently went on a training mission of some sort. She wanted to be as strong as everyone else in the guild," Mira whispered the last, knowing all the eyes in the guild were trained on them. Every ear would be trying to pick up this information, just a snippet of a hint as to where Lucy had disappeared to. "All of her stuff is in the basement; for when she comes back."

 _Lucy._

 _Lucy... Left?_

"She _will_ come back, Natsu," Mira added, seeing as he remained unmoving.

That wasn't good enough.

Natsu dashed downstairs, accidentally knocking several people over in the process.

Not even sparing them a glance, he threw open he doors to the basement.

Following her scent, he found a closed door.

The lock was broken.

Entering the room, Natsu was greeted by a symphony of smells, all belonging to Lucy. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. After sufficiently collecting himself, he lifted his eyelids to see the boxes of stuff Lucy had left behind.

Peeking out of the top of one of the top boxes, was the comforter Lucy had loved so much.

Natsu slowly approached the box, and the tiny corner of fabric poking out, as if he expected something to pop out and attack him if he got too close. Warily, he lifted the comforter out of the box.

It sat, neatly folded, in his hands now.

He looked down at it, his face devoid of any emotion, as he struggled with what _to_ feel in this situation.

"Luce..."

Seeing that soft comforter, and staring down at something that he so strongly associated with Lucy...

It made Natsu fall to his knees, eyes glistening with tears.

But they did't fall.

No, instead his eyes hardened with a determination that welled up inside him, making his head spin with ideas.

 _Lucy..._

 _Why'd you go...?_

 _You were strong enough_ _for us; you were one of the bravest people I ever met..._

 _Why?_

 _I'm your partner. You don't have to worry about being strong. That's what patterns are for..._

His head snapped up, a smile just beginning to stretch across his lips. He stormed up the stairs, comforter still gathered in his arms.

He guessed that he probably looked crazy, snuggling with a blanket (obviously a girl's blanket), and a mad grin plastered across his face.

He probably wasn't thinking straight; an aftershock of the load just dumped on him all at once. And Natsu was (somewhat) aware of this.

But he didn't care.

"Yo Gray!' he hollered across the room. "Let's go on a mission!" Bewildered by Natsu's sudden urge to take on yet another job, he rose an eyebrow at the Dragon Slayer's enthusiasm.

"Whaddya mean let's go on a mission?! We just got back!" Gray yelled in response. Natsu jumped into the air, and Happy rushed up to catch him. Wings outstretched, Natsu was lowered to the ground.

"C'mon! We gotta go get Lucy!"

"Lucy? Why the hell do we gotta go and get her? Her house what, five minutes away?" Nervously, Wendy approached the Ice Mage, and whispered something in his ear. (She hadn't gone on the mission; and instead had stayed to go on an easy mission with Romeo.) Gray listened carefully at first, clearly concentrating.

And then he blanched.

"She _left?!_ Well where the hell is she?!" He turned to face Wendy directly. Wendy looked down at her feet.

"I- I don't know where Lucy went. No one does," Wendy admitted timidly.

"Excuse me?"

The booming voice of Titania thundered through the Guild Hall like an explosion.

Natsu however, was not deterred from his decision.

"Lucy left," he stated bluntly. "She left to get stronger because she wanted to prove she was good enough to be a part of Fairy Tail, and we didn't let her know that every damn day because we're idiots."

Erza's eyes widened, bugging enough for Natsu to see it from across the Guild Hall.

"So I'm gonna go find her."

Natsu marched past the shell-shocked Ex-quip (also known as Requip, I know) Mage, not even breaking his stride. But when Natsu was halfway past her, her hand shot out to grab his arm.

"Wait." Erza commanded. Natsu stopped short, a knowing grin threatening to show, despite the recent news that had just been thrown in their faces.

Because when Erza Scarlet, Queen of the Fairies put her mind to it, shit got real.

"Take us with you."

* * *

It was a peculiar sensation, feeling magic sewing your skin back together.

Lucy woke up lying on what felt like a cloud.

She also felt like she'd been run over by a car. (Which, if you think about it, isn't that far from the truth.)

Lucy groaned, attempting to sit up.

A sharp pain shot through her stomach, and she dropped like a stone. She cried out, and a multitude of colors rushed towards her.

Pink, orange, blue.

Gentle hands pushed her back down, pushing her.

"Shh... Lucy, lie back down. You're not ready yet," her Lion said while easing her back down. "Silly Lucy, you haven't healed fully yet. It's only been an hour."

"An hour?" Lucy asked, her mind still foggy with sleep. "Wait, where am I?"

"The Spirit World," Loke answered. "You were about to die," he added grimly.

Lucy blinked.

"Wait, what?"

* * *

"Lucy, goddamit, where the hell did you go?" Natsu groaned, bringing his face closer to the giant map posted at the train station.

"It's been at least a week since Lucy left, she could've reached any of the cities around here by now," Gray reasoned, using his finger to trace a circle around the possible destinations. "Anywhere farther than that, and she'd would've taken a boat; and people are _sure_ they saw her here."

"Wait, why don't we just ask the ticket vendor what train she got on?" Erza asked, knowing full well that Fairy Tail members weren't easily forgotten. (Whether it was excitement from meeting a mage from the winners of the Magic Games, or weariness after hearing their destructive tendencies; people remembered when they ran into a Fairy Tail member.)

Gray sighed.

"We tried that. It narrowed it down to one train, and one route, but who knows where she got off? All of these places," Gray said, tracing a line of stops heading west from Magnolia. "-fall within the range of possibilities."

"Uh, excuse me?" They all turned, including Happy. They were met with the sight of a young man, around the same height and age as Natsu, with blonde hair. Judging by the uniform he wore, he was an employee of the train company. "I heard you were looking for someone with blonde hair with the Fairy tail guild mark?"

"Yeah," Natsu said, perking up. "Do you have any idea where she was going?"

"Actually, I was working on the train she was riding on," he answered, suddenly looking very remorseful with eyes downcast. Natsu stepped forward.

"And...? Did she say anything about where she was going? Do you remember where she got off?" He prompted. The man swallowed.

"Actually..."

"Jeremy!" Someone called. He turned, having heard his name. It was another employee, this one a young woman with lilac hair. "Jeremy! I just heard the news! Is it true that-"

"Wait," he tried to cut her off, unsuccessfully.

"-the celestial mage-" she carried on, concerned about the young woman splattered all over the current news that everyone had grown to love during the Magic Games.

"Gabriella don't-"

"-from the Fairy Tail Guild died in the accident?"

A shadow crossed over Jeremy's face.

"Yeah," he said weakly. "It's true."

...

"A group of rogue mages started shaking the train from the back," he explained in a hollow voice, seeing as all of the mages were frozen with fear. "Something about trying to draw out the Salamander or something."

He shook his head.

Natsu had a scream lodged in his throat.

"But the Salamander wasn't _on_ the train, and they wouldn't listen. There were captives in the back car, and they wouldn't stop."

Natsu simply stared at the man, as if he'd grown a third eye.

"So she went back to handle it."

"By the time the train had pretty much stopped shaking, people were rushing from the end of the train; the ones who'd been held hostage in the back. So I went back to check if she was alright, and if everyone had gotten out. There were all these craters in the back wall, and I could see her fighting him through the gaps on the back platform... "

He trailed off, the last sentence too hard for him to finish.

"And I watched her knock him out before she was thrown off the back of the train."

 _No._

 _No._

 _NO._

 _NOT LUCY PLEASE NOT IT'S NOT TRUE IT **CAN'T** BE TRUE NOT LUCY NO._

And with that, Natsu crumpled, broken.

* * *

Natsu could hear this loud, blood-curling, heartbreaking, ear-piercing noise.

It drowned out everything else, making Natsu's whole head hurt.

What was that horrific noise?

Oh.

Ah.

It was him.

Natsu Dragneel was screaming.

The ground was shaking beneath him, people would later say.

His whole body was on fire, sorrow and anger pouring out of him in arching, twisted flames. He cried, and the temperature rose, scorching the ground around him in a circle. He fell to his knees, roaring.

Scales were forming around his narrowing eyes, and along his cheekbones, where tears were currently pouring down.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Natsu roared. "LUCY'S NOT DEAD! LUCY'S ALIVE AND I'M GONNA FIND HER JUST YOU WATCH!"

Erza, drops of water rolling down her cheeks, simply let Natsu incinerate everything around him.

And as the dragon screamed for his treasure to return to him, Erza and Gray could only watch as their friend's heart broke into pieces.

* * *

The next week was hell.

Literally, hell on Earthland.

The Guild was in shambles.

Erza, with a tear stained face, returned with Natsu slung over her shoulder hours later.

It had taken most of the day for Natsu to burn himself out. And Erza and Gray had let him.

Two days later was the funeral.

Natsu didn't say a thing after the huge announcement of Lucy's death until his speech at her funeral.

 _It rained the day of Lucy's funeral; but maybe that had something to do with the mood of the Rain Woman currently sobbing into Gray's shirt._

 _It was an empty grave._

 _They all knew this. Lucy body had been lost somewhere on the train tracks._

 _The gravestone bore the Guild Mark, and the name 'Lucy of Fairy Tail.'_

 _Natsu knelt in front of the smooth stone sticking out of the ground, tears streaking down his cheeks._

 _"Hey Luce."_

 _The Guild simply watched, and listened, as Natsu poured his heart out to his best friend._

 _"We all miss you. I'm so sorry we left you behind. I'm sorry I didn't take you on the mission with me; I'm sorry for forgetting to remind you how amazing and brave and strong you are every damn day, because I should have." He looked up at the sky, hoping Lucy was hearing this, wherever she was._

 _"I'm sorry for not being there."_

 _He stared at her name, engraved in front of him in elegant lettering, as if speaking to her face to face._

 _"I'm sorry you felt like you weren't strong enough to be part of out family. You were always enough, Lucy, and you didn't have to prove that."_

 _Someone came up to put a hand on Natsu's shoulder._

 _It was Levy._

 _"You were my partner Lucy. You were my best friend in the entire world, and the most amazing person I've ever met, and you always will be."_

 _He exhaled, knowing there were some things he should have said a long, long time ago._

 _"I love you so much, Lucy of Fairy Tail. And nothing will ever change that."_

 _He paid no mind to the harmony of crying and weeping let out by girls then, especially Mirajane._

 _"I love you so much and I didn't even realize until it was too late. Guess I really am a dumbass, aren't I?" He laughed._

 _"You made my chest all fluttery; so much that my heart physically hurt every time I saw you, and you weren't mine. You made me light-headed, like I was walking on a cloud." He grinned sadly at the slab of stone in the dirt._

 _"You gave me butterflies. I didn't know why I always felt so weird- weird and good- when I was around you until Lisanna told me."_

 _Levy squeezed his shoulder reassuringly._

 _"Hey Luce," she chimed in. "Did you hear that?"_

 _Natsu looked up at her, knowing what she was about to say. Levy had told him earlier that day, in hopes to prevent another major meltdown._

 _"He loved you too."_

 _Gray stiffened, his eyes flicking over to Natsu to see how he'd react._

 _Erza eyed him warily._

 _"You weirdo."_

 _Natsu combed a hand through his wet hair._

 _"We're both so stupid. All this time, and we were just dancing around each other."_

 _Gajeel stepped forward, having planned this out with Levy and Natsu._

 _"Hey Bunnygirl," he started, using her nickname. "So I guess you know about Salamander now. You two were pretty obvious, I have to admit."_

 _Gajeel let out a harsh breath._

 _"But I bet you didn't know he was your mate."_

 _Even the quiet sniffling stopped._

 _"It's a Dragon Slayer thing. We bond for life. When we find our mate, we give our heart and soul to them."_

 _"Lucy, what Gajeel means to say is-"_

 _"I will never love anyone as much as I love you," Natsu finished. "You were it, Lucy. For the rest of my life, I will never, ever forget you."_

 _And with that, Natsu sat next to her grave, and bawled his_ _eyes out._

* * *

 **So... whaddya think? (Btw, I'm already working on another fic, and I'll try not to let my scenes sound too similar when I post it...)**

 **Bye!**

 **-Pyro**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

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* * *

Every day Natsu would spend an hour at her grave.

Some days he'd bring Happy, or Erza. Sometimes Gray came too.

Even Levy tagged occasionally.

And some days, Natsu just went alone.

He'd just sit next to her, and talk about anything and everything. He told her about how people got into fights less often in the Guild Hall now, and how he didn't partake in any of them, period. He told her that most off her stuff was in his house now, courtesy of Makarov.

 _"I think it's fair to say that Natsu deserves this," Makarov declared, gesturing to Lucy's things downstairs._

 _The remaining members of Team Natsu nodded in agreement._

 _"Wait," Levy interjected. She bounded forward, rummaging through Lucy's dresser."Ah! Here it is," she said, triumphantly holding up a small box._

 _"What is that?" Erza asked, her curiosity getting the better of her._

 _"Lucy's letters," Levy explained, a rush of sadness suddenly washing over her. It wasn't overwhelming; it wasn't like the tidal wave that had carried her away last time._

 _"She wrote them all the time. Most of them are for her mother." Levy turned to Natsu._

Now, Natsu sat, the little box resting in his hands.

"Lucy," he said warmly, imagining she was sitting next to him. "I know these letters aren't for me. I won't read them. Because they're your personal thoughts, for you and your mom to share."

But still, he opened the box, revealing dozens of little paper envelopes.

'Dear Mom' was written neatly across the front, with the date printed in the upper right corner of each.

Natsu rummaged through the letters, resisting ht urge to open one.

 _Wow. Lucy really did miss her mom a lot, didn't she?_ Natsu observed, looking at the dates. Some indicated that she wrote at least once a week, sometimes even more. Of course, there were gaps from times they went on long missions, but Lucy usually made up for that time.

But at the very bottom of the pile, lay a single letter, not addressed to her mother.

No, they were dressed to Natsu.

Natsu stopped, blinking several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

 _Does.. is this for..._

He reached in, little paper out.

"Lucy," he whispered. "Is this for me?"

He stared up at the sky for a few moment, listening to his heart beating.

Hands shaking, he ripped the flap open.

 _Dear Natsu,_

 _Hi._

 _While I know you won't ever read this, I can't help but feel embarrassed already at how stupid I'm going to sound._

 _Anyway, I saw you fighting earlier._

 _It was amazing._

 _You were almost like a dragon, snapping and jerking your limbs around on instinct; hitting your mark every time. You were a force to be reckoned with; and as usual, I was reminded of how glad I am you're on our side._

 _Which also reminded me that I'm nowhere near that level yet._

Natsu groaned. Again with this nonsense.

 _I'm kinda jealous._

 _Of you, of Erza. Of Gray and Mira._

 _I'm jealous of Lisanna especially._

Natsu's brows creased.

 _I'm very lucky to have been chosen as her replacement, I admit._

Replacement?

 _I know about it already, it's okay. You had a hole in your heart to fill, and I am so very grateful to have been your stand-in. I thank you for that, because I finally felt... relevant to someone._ _But now that Lisanna's back, I'll give you two some space._

 _I know it's rude to impose upon reunited mates._

Mates?!

 _I borrowed a book from Levy- about Dragons and Dragon Slayers (I'm pretty sure even you could guess why she has that in her_ _possession). I learned about mates, and how you only have the one for your whole life._

 _But while reading that, Lisanna hadn't returned from Edolas yet._

 _How did you do it?_

 _I can't imagine what that felt like, your one soul mate slipping through your fingers. How did you even manage to stand? From what I understood, losing your mate is like having all reason for living ripped out from under you. And yet, you managed to keep up a happy, carefree front._

 _I can't believe you finally got your happy ending, finally._

 _But Natsu, just don't forget me. I know I'm asking a lot, but please..._

 _I really, I know it wasn't meant to be but..._

 _I really do love you._

 _You're my best friend on the whole planet, my parter through thick and thin._

 _But that's all we're destined to be._

 _Mates are absolute, and trying to change that would make me... horrible. Human scum, that's what I'd be._

Natsu stopped reading, raising an eyebrow at Lucy's grave.

"You thought _Lisanna_ was my mate? Geez, and you called me stupid," Natsu said, shaking his head. He was too far under to feel any more sadness, and now he was just feeling stupid.

"We could've stopped all of this you know. If we hadn't been so moronic," Natsu muttered, remained once again of how things could have turned out differently.

 _So, just invite me to the wedding, okay?_

 _I promise, I'll leave you alone after that._

 _Love you,_

 _-Lucy_

Recently, Natsu had been crying a lot.

Today was no exception.

* * *

Lucy was flitting in and out of unconsciousness.

Virgo kept giving her something that looked and smiled like hot chocolate, but made her lightheaded and drowsy.

As Virgo brought the cup to her lips for the third time since she'd woke up: Lucy stopped her.

"Princess?" Virgo asked.

"Virgo, what are you giving me?" Lucy asked, suspicious of the contents of the drink.

"Painkillers."

"Ah."

Lucy opened her mouth, and felt the warm liquid burn a trail down her throat. Virgo began help Lucy out of bed, ready to test her legs.

"Hold on one moment, Princess. I just want to see if your legs are strong enough to support you." As the covers were lifted, Lucy' stomach tingled from the sudden exposure to the cold air.

Sh stopped, looking down at her stomach.

A jagged, fading-to white line zigzagged across her abdomen.

It was healing right before her eyes, but Lucy knew that the mark was going to be permanent. And _shit_ , did it hurt.

"Hmm..." Lucy though to herself, momentarily forgetting she had company; company she was currently leaning on. "I guess now I really am broken."

"Hmm? Princess, did you say something?" Lucy heard muffled speech through the door.

"Did you hear that? Lucy? Virgo, is she awake?"

The doors burst open, the bang it made against the walls startling Lucy enough for her to stumble, and lose her grip on Virgo's supporting arm.

"Ah!' She exclaimed, tipping forwards. Virgo swept her up in her arms before she fell, much to her relief.

Loke, apologizing profusely, bowed in front of her.

"Lucy! I'm sorry if I scared you! Are you alright?" He asked, lowering his head once more. Lucy rolled her eyes, motioning for Virgo to let her down.

"Yes Princess," Virgo responded, the monotone quality in her voice hidden just beneath the surface.

"Yes Loke, I'm _fine_ , I'm not made of glass. You really don't need to-" Lucy stumbled the second she was left to stand on her own. Her left knee buckled, and she nearly collapsed in the marble floor right then and there. Loke lurched forward, arms outstretched, but she held up a finger, cueing him to wait.

Wincing, she waited for a few moments before continuing.

"I'm fine," she gasped out. "I can do this."

"Lucy," Aquarius warned darkly, approaching her from the side. "You're pushing yourself too hard. C'mon, you might hurt yourself-" Miraculously, Lucy then straightened, taking a hesitant step forward.

Her legs buckled.

Though she did seem ready enough for it...

"Is she good?" Loke asked Virgo, tearing his eyes away from the infectiously happy Celestial Mage. Virgo nodded.

"I think she's stable enough for it."

"Ready for what...?" Lucy asked, eyes narrowing.

Loke simply winked, and flashed toothy grin. And then he whistled.

"It's all clear guys! Come on in!"

Lucy waited for a second, staring uncomprehendingly at her Lion Spirit.

"...what did you just..."

"Just wait."

A good three seconds passed.

One.

Two.

Three.

And then all hell broke loose.

A wave of brightly colored blurs rushed at her, smothering her in hugs.

Her Spirits.

"Hey hey hey! Guys! I didn't say you could jump on her, I just said you could come in!" Loke exclaimed. "She's not completely healed yet! Give her some space!"

With that being said, they stilled.

The excitement didn't die down, only the volume was decreased.

"Hey guys!" Lucy said, breaking the silence Loke had just managed to establish. (He was the Leader of the Stars and all, but reigning in a group jittery, thrilled spirits pumped with adrenaline and enthusiasm was a challenge none the less. Even he couldn't control them in this state.)

"Lucy!" The cried. (Well, most of them. Capricorn settled for a dignified 'hello Miss Lucy,' with a smile just barely pulling at his lips.) "Lucy are you alright?"

Lucy broke into a full-fledged fit of laughter, this time, unable to hold it all back. She was gasping, holding her stomach as she dissolved into chuckles and very unlady-like snorts.

Which brought on another wave of pain.

Lucy winced.

"Princess! Your wounds will reopen if you're not careful!"

"Sorry Virgo, I'll be careful," Lucy promised. "I love you guys so much, you know that?" Lucy managed, trying to catch her breath.

A troubling thought crossed Loke's mind for a quick second, but he quickly dismissed it.

 _Let her have this moment,_ his conscience chided. _You can tell her later._

* * *

The first month was probably the worst one.

Now, it wasn't an uncommon sight; seeing Natsu wandering the streets aimlessly.

He took jobs with Erza and Gray sometimes. But never for more than a week or two.

He couldn't bear to be away from Lucy that long.

Needless to say, that meant Erza and Gray didn't go on long jobs either anymore.

Without Natsu... Well, what would Team Natsu be without the other founding member? Without Lucy, they were lost enough. They couldn't suffer another loss like that.

When they weren't with Natsu, they were on short solo jobs.

Leaving him alone for too long didn't seem like such a good idea. he didn't eat very much, unless he was prompted to do so. Happy had even reported that some days, he forgot to eat altogether.

He didn't really... seem like the old Natsu anymore.

Now he was more subdued, along with the rest of the Guild.

Things hadn't stopped completely. After all, the world had to keep moving. But gone were the colorful banners that hung across the ceilings; they'd been taken down as a sign of respect during the mourning period.

But they were trying harder, making greater efforts to be kind.

Just for Lucy.

* * *

The second month in, Natsu realized that he was constantly being watched.

Whether he was just walking alongside Erza, or sitting at the bar with Gajeel, someone was keeping an eye on him.

It was annoying.

It reminded him all too much of Lucy, who had gotten into the habit of glancing over at him from the side since they'd met.

He was scared.

So, so scared.

Fairy Tail was starting to recover. They were moving on, keeping Lucy tucked away as a wonderful, cherished memory. They were leaving her behind in the past.

But Lucy didn't _belong_ there.

Lucy was so full of life and passion; she couldn't be reduced to a few memories and hazy images that no one could conjure up exactly. She belonged in the present; as a current member of the family.

And that was why Natsu was _terrified_ of it all.

He was terrified at the thought of forgetting her.

He couldn't let it leave him; the way her voice sounded, or the way her arm felt draped around his shoulder. He _wouldn't_ let himself forget the way her laughed chimed, making a whole room seem indefinitely brighter.

Even her scent was fading.

In all honesty, Happy was surprised that her smell had lingered for even this long.

Natsu couldn't lose her like that.

He kept that letter folded carefully in his pocket, as a reminder of his Lucy.

He didn't cry as much anymore.

In public.

Now it was reduced to whimpers, and tears silently trickling down his cheeks by her grave. Nowadays Happy just pretended he didn't see it; and let Natsu ride out his misery. Happy caught Natsu sobbing quietly into his pillow a few days ago, and had simply left him alone.

Outside of that room, Natsu still plastered on a fake smile, for Magnolia to see.

He wasn't fooling Erza, or Gray. Not Lisanna or Levy. And _especially_ not Gajeel.

But the rest of the guild... they genuinely thought that maybe he was moving on. They believed that he was healing, and was getting over Lucy.

They clearly didn't understand the severity of losing a mate.

It wasn't like the whole 'Lisanna' debacle (while that had been a heartbreaking tragedy in itself). It was like half of his soul had been wrenched away from him; like his heart had been mercilessly torn out and then to pieces.

It was like feeling the ground disappear from under you, and now... Natsu was free falling.

But he put on a brave face.

For them. For the people he had left.

But every day, his heart didn't hurt any less, no matter how much he pretended otherwise.

* * *

"...Lucy?" Loke hesitantly began.

Lucy jumped up, stretching. Now that she was almost in the clear, Virgo had allowed her to roam around freely, so long as she had someone with her. She still had a cane, and a limp (which was _why_ she needed the cane), for her weakened left leg. But other than that...

Lucy was sucking up energy like water.

Now that it wasn't all being directed to healing her lacerations, it was building up inside her, expanding her magical capacity. She was positively glowing (both figuratively and literally).

"Lucy, I'm so, so sorry."

Lucy stopped, hearing the genuine distress in his voice.

"...What happened?" Loke bowed his head, taking off his glasses.

"Lucy..."

Lucy just turned to face him, a shadow crossing her face.

"...I had to bring you here."

"Yes, I know."

"I know I should have done something, but I can't leave the Spirit World with you here. To open my own gate, you need to be in the Human World as my anchor. Without that, I can't access Earthland."

"Yes Loke, I figured."

"Lucy..."

" _Yes, Loke, for the love of god, just tell me already!"_ Lucy exclaimed, exasperation underlying each word.

"And you know we can sometimes see glimpses into the human world, even if you're not there?"

"No, actually, I was not aware of that fact," Lucy admitted. "But I doubt that's the urgent thing you clearly need to tell me."

"...We would have told you sooner," Loke said, eyes downcast. "But we knew you'd want to go home, and leaving so son might kill you."

"LOKE. WHAT. IS. IT?"

"Lucy, you've been with us for almost the whole day," Loke finally breathed out.

"And? So what I- Oh..." Lucy's eyes widened, realization hitting her like a brick wall. She brought her hands to her mouth. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah."

That one word sent her in a frenzy of panic.

"Lucy... you've been gone almost three months now."

* * *

The second month, the second week, on the third day was when Natsu finally cracked.

It was a rainy day, just like the day of Lucy's funeral.

Maybe that's what brought on the gloomy disposition of the Dragon Slayer.

Perhaps it could have had something to do with it being Lucy's birthday.

Whatever it was, Natsu went ballistic when Lucy's name was whispered in the guild hall. He went on a rampage, lashing out and igniting flames that no one had seen in a long time. Gray had been the first to set it, just pinning Natsu's arms to his sides in a firm hug.

"It's okay," he whispered. "We miss her too."

Perhaps he was wrong.

Maybe Lucy wasn't being forgotten.

Later, Team Natsu accompanied the founding member to Lucy's grave. Wendy too.

Erza, sitting next to Lucy's headstone, chatted idly with her friend.

"Hello Lucy," she greeted, spreading her skirt to sit on the grass. "I'm sorry I haven't been to visit recently. I just sometimes can't make myself come down here..." she confessed, knowing full fell that the other two males and the blue exceed could hear her.

"I know I have no right to say this," she started softly "Especially when you consider what Natsu's going through. But it hurts so much to see this." Erza let the tears fall.

"I hate the fact that you're gone, and I never even had a chance to say goodbye. I hate the fact that you felt like you weren't enough for us. And I hate the fact that I never even got to see you in a white dress on your special day, like you told me you always dreamed of."

Natsu froze.

"I know you'd never admit it, seeing as you thought it made you seem stupid. But it's a girl thing, and I understand wholeheartedly."

Wendy came to sit with Erza.

"Hey Lucy," she said with an enthusiastic wave. "Do you remember that one time all the girls hung out in Fairy Hills and we talked about getting married?"

Even Gray stopped what he was doing to listen to this one.

"I didn't have much to contribute, because I guess I'm not really old enough to understand," Wendy mused. "It must be an older girl thing." She smiled down at the smooth stone.

"But I remember how your cheeks go tall red when Cana ask you about it. It was pretty funny actually. But you got all sad when Lisanna's eyes lit up too." Wendy chuckled. "I guess you didn't realize she was thinking about Bickslow, huh?"

Gray spluttered.

"Eh?!"

Wendy carried on as if he hadn't even said anything.

"You know what?" Erza remarked. "It was a cruel twist of fate; the fact that you could pick up on every couple in the Guild but not the ones that could have prevented the whole thing."

"Yeah," Wendy chirped. "It was pretty exhausting, watching you and Natsu blatantly dance around each other." (Might I add Wendy looked rather proud of herself for using such a big word.)

"You were so excited too," Wendy said, sniffling. The emotions were building up. "You know what the worst part was?"

She turned to Natsu, both her and Erza.

"She wasn't expecting to get married anyway." Erza finished the sentiment.

"Because she never really thought it was possible for someone to love her like that."

* * *

" _Excuse me?!_ " Lucy shrieked.

" _I've been here for how long?!"_

Loke winced, his cat ears flattening to his head. Lucy had quite the set of lungs on her. He looked down at his watch.

"As of now, approximately three months."

" _WHAT?!"_

Lucy leapt forward, her keys jingling with her movement. She went sprawling to the floor.

Her knees scraped on the ground, and once again, she was bleeding. Alarmed, Loke moved forward. She pushed him aside.

" _Ihavetogethome_ ," Lucy rushed out, a wild look in her eyes. " _Ihavetogetbacktotheguild."_

"Lucy! Listen to me! You aren't strong enough!" Loke said, shaking her.

Lucy cried out, feeling one of her magic stitches bursting in her stomach from when she'd hit the floor.

"Dammit Lucy listen to me!"

"No!" Lucy cried. "I have to got back!"

Suddenly, her eyes lit up with an idea.

She drew a key from her belt, knowing her plan was sure to work.

Probably.

"Open, Gate of the Lion!" Lucy commanded. The swirling gate of light appeared, (and usually he would have jumped through it to appear where she'd summoned him), and he looked over at her, bewildered.

"Lucy, what are you doing?"

Lucy, however, didn't respond. Instead, she carefully tucked the keep into her hand, and grasped around for her cane. Using it as a support, Lucy leapt forward.

And she disappeared into the gate, leaving a speechless Lion behind.

* * *

 **Hey! Sorry if I made any typos! Leave a review if you have any suggestions/criticism or just comments in general! I love to hear your thoughts!**

 **-Pyro**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Wow! Ohmygod, you guys are AMAZING with the whole support thing! Thank you so much!**

 **As you might have read last chapter (if you bothered to read the whole bolded** **intro; I know I usually don't so it's okay if you didn't hear), I've already started a new fic! It will be posted _immediately_ after this story is finished, (so, probably the day after).**

 **I'm almost done with the first chapter, so finishing it shouldn't take to long.**

 **Moving on, here are the people I am so, SO grateful for, because they've been so supportive and really make me happy and proud of this story:**

 **Aisu-Ran-field**

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 **booklover21567**

 **Sapphire Water Maiden- Well, I hope the wait wasn't too long!**

 **MsCookieSmuggler (aka the 3rd)- I'm glad to know you think the story's improving. That really means a lot to me. Also, so you're the one who came up with the amnesia concept? Cool. (Would it be alright with you if I held onto that idea? Not the next one coming out soon, but maybe for another fic after that?)**

 **The King Of Dragons- I couldn't wait either! (That's why I did this chapter so fast...)**

 **Gothazon- Same. The reaction is totally relatable.**

 **taboadayvonne- will do!**

 **Naomi chan- I will, I will! Promise.**

 **Wondewomanbatmanfan- Hey cliff hangers are great! (Even though they kinda suck. A lot.)**

 **Dreaming Star Traveler- Thank you for saying my story is awesome (though I'm not quite sure if I can agree with you on that).**

 **dogsrcool- Really? That's nice to hear! Glad you like it.**

 **Cassi0chan- I know, Natsu's totally heartbroken. And about him knowing about Lucy being fine... Maybe this chapter. Maybe not.**

 **Alyssa947- Glad that you 'loved' it!**

 **IbeWildBella124- Wow. Thank you for... all of that. I'm glad I'm keeping you on the edge of your seats, and I'm not being predictable like some people expected. Your review made me really really happy, and thank you for all of your much-appreciated support.**

 **And for the _thousandth_ time, whoever the Guests are, please leave a name next time!**

 **Well then, let's get a move on.**

 **BUT READ THIS FIRST**

 **JUST A WARNING: A lot of this chapter is kind of fillers/fluff for other ships before it gets to any of the good stuff. (Mainly laxus/Mirajane)**

* * *

Too bad Lucy hadn't exactly thought of a specific destination before jumping through the gate.

The sky opened up, and Lucy plummeted downward, along with the rain.

Lucy had been unceremoniously dumped on a rosebush.

Great.

Just great.

Lucy yelped, wincing at the thorns pricking her. She winced, feeling the sharp points breaking the skin of her back through her outfit from the Spirit World. The blood and the raindrops made it hard for her to lift herself up, but Lucy ignored it.

She still had some of the Spirit World Magic flowing through her veins, but in the Human World, it wasn't healing her up before her very eyes.

Lucy staggered off the bush of flowers, her knee still bleeding and dysfunctional.

Her cane.

Goddamint, _where_ _was her cane?_

Lucy looked around, before remembering exactly why she'd jumped through Loke's Gate without hesitation.

 _Natsu._

Her head whipped around, searching for any familiar landmark that might indicate where she was through the downpour of water. Squinting, she could just barely make out black iron gate, rising high above her.

 _The graveyard,_ Lucy almost cried with relief.

She knew those gates. They were the gates that had one held Lisanna's grave, before it had been destroyed. Now, to get to the guild Hall, all she had to do was run through them, and exit on the other side.

Lucy limped forwards, collapsing the second she bounded forward on her bad leg. But Lucy wasn't going to relent because of her stupid, defective knee.

She limped forwards, the stinging in her stomach intensifying.

Lucy didn't care anymore.

 _I just wanna see Natsu,_ Lucy desperately thought. _I want to say I'm sorry, for leaving so long._

 _I hope he doesn't think I'm still mad over him leaving without me to bond with Lisanna._

That thought brought another sting of pain, though this one was mostly emotional.

 _I hope he doesn't think I left on a long mission without him,_ Lucy fretted, imagining his anger for abandoning him.

As Lucy bolted through the graveyard, in haste to get to the guild, she was blind to the world around her.

Even the smooth slab of stone protruding from the ground, the very one with her name carved into it in elegant script.

* * *

Natsu was completely miserable. Especially so today, though most couldn't figure out why exactly.

It was the day of Igneel's disappearance.

And yet, Igneel wasn't the focus of Natsu's thoughts on the rainy afternoon.

Quite predictably, he was thinking of Lucy.

He had his forehead pressed down onto the wood of the bar, hands in his hair.

Coping wasn't working.

Every damned day, he's just imagine what could have been, and what could no longer be. Ever since that day, all Natsu had been able to imagine was Lucy, in that stupid white dress, with her cheeks all flushed and-

Dammit, he was doing it again!

Natsu groaned, slamming his head into the bar counter, and closed his eyes. And just this once, he let his imagination wander.

He let himself create a fantasy, where he and Lucy hadn't acted like the two biggest idiots in the planet. He imagined that he'd never been a dumbass, and had never left on the basis of: Lucy making him ' _sick.'_

Natsu groaned once more, a new wave of shame devouring him.

 _I really fucked up._

Some days, like this one, Natsu was especially affected by Lucy's death. It hit him especially hard, when he woke up, bright eyed and fine (after a blissfully dreamless sleep, no doubt), and was then hit with the crushing realization that he'd gone and practically gotten his mate _killed._

 _Dead._

 _Six feet under._ (Well, not really, because the body had been lost to the rough terrain before they'd gotten to it).

Natsu just wanted to impale himself in the heart, and save him the pain in the long run.

He just wanted it to be _over._

Natsu was tired of hurting.

He just wanted it all to end, so he could finally just be with Lucy again, wherever she was.

But no, Natsu would suffer on, for Lucy's sake. Natsu had to make sure Lucy's memory stayed strong in the legacy of Fairy Tail; so she would be remembered forever.

Letting his imagination get the best of him, Natsu was once again bombarded with images of Lucy in that stupid dress that made his heart and his head hurt and god did he miss her so badly-

And then the next image that flashed in front of him was one that actually, physically, hurt.

It was a much simpler vision, really. Unlike the wedding visions, like one was actually realistic.

This one wasn't just an image; it was accompanied with smells and sounds and the feel of Lucy in his arms.

Lucy was sleepy soundly in her bed, and Natsu was staring at her through half-lidded eyes. The thing that made the whole image that much more agonizing, was that this wasn't a figment of his imagination. this was a memory.

This was showing Natsu something he'd once had, an d something he'd lost.

Because he was a hopeless, lovestruck, idiotic dumbshit.

Gray could tell, just by looking at Natsu from across the room.

 _Yep, he's having one of **those** days._

* * *

Lucy could barely see through the sweat, tears of desperation and the heavy rain coming down in sheets. Judging by the sticky, warm liquid trickling down the side of her face, as well as into her eyes, Lucy had gotten sliced by a rose thorn.

Still weaving her way through the streets of Magnolia, Lucy felt around her face for the source.

 _Ah._ Lucy thought, irked at finding the source of blood just above her eyebrow. _Great. that's just peachy. Fucking rosebushes. Why the hell would the gate even think to dump me in a thorn bush outside of a_ was irritated enough to swear, showing she really, really wasn't in a good mood.

Suddenly, one of Lucy's stumbling bare, scraped feet caught under one of the cobblestones, and she crashed into another body. Both went sprawling on the ground, left to pick themselves up.

Lucy, not really even bothering to offer a decent apology, other than a "Sorry" that escaped her, bet she must have been quite the sight to see. She was soaked to the bone; everything from her hair to her belt and everything in between was drenched.

Her back was all bloody, as were her knees and her feet. Not to mention the blood dripping inconveniently into her eyes and down her chin. She was pretty sure that she actually _had_ opened one of her magic stitches, because a spot of dark red was blooming right over her stomach.

Catching sight of herself in a puddle, Lucy shuddered.

Lucy, not wasting anytime getting back to her Natsu (even though she still genuinely believed Lisanna and Natsu were should mates or whatever), didn't even bother straightening herself out before taking off once again.

 _Natsu! Natsu where are you! I'm sorry! Please!_

Leaving a bewildered, utterly confused Romeo in her wake.

He was quick to react, to his credit.

Romeo slapped himself square in the face, hoping that Natsu's delusions weren't infectious.

 _Did I just... Was that..._

 _Huh?_

 _Jeez, I really am starting to lose my mind._

 _Guess it was bound to happen some time, after hanging out with those lunatics all the time._

* * *

Gray was leaning casually against a wall, shirt off (no surprise there) when Juvia approached him.

"Gray?" She asked timidly. He looked at her in surprise, as she'd dropped the '-sama' from the end of his name.

"Juvia? What is it?" He questioned, sensing this wasn't going to be some stupid question or statement about him a) being the object of her undying love b) being just a hero, for reasons he didn't even _want_ to delve into or c) not returning her feelings. (Because, most of every thing that acme out of her mouth was somehow tied to one of those subcategories.)

Not that Gray would ever admit it, maybe unless someone had turned the collective efforts of both Erza Scarlett and Mirajane Strauss into getting him to spill; but perhaps all of her love was unrequited.

Shaking his head to put an end to _that_ little train of thought, because it was beginning to head in a dangerous direction, Gray snapped out of his reverie.

"Well," Juvia nervously began, twisting her fingers around, "I know that this really isn't a great concerns, since we're all still trying to adjust to Lucy-"

Juvia's voice faltered, knowing that she was approaching what had been dubbed a 'forbidden topic' to bring up to any of the members of Team Natsu. Gray brushed his bangs back, nodding.

"It's okay. Go on."

"Wow uh..." Juvia stammered, shocked that she'd even gotten this far. Then paused, blanking on what she'd come over to say. "I was just wondering; do you have any idea what happened to Lucy's keys?"

Gray visibly drooped.

"No," he admitted. "We searched all along the train route she took, Erza and I. No trace of the keys. I don't know how Celestial Spirit Keys and contracts work; therefore I don't know if they were automatically given to some one else. Maybe they're inactive from now on until their keys are uncovered. I don't know."

Gray exhaled loudly.

"But wherever they are, I hope they're okay." His eyes softened.

"Loke most of all. We got really close," Gray admitted.

"Oh yeah, I remember; you two were partners in the S Class Trials, weren't you? Speaking of which, how did you two grow so close, with him being Lucy's Spirit and all?"

"Ah, I forgot you weren't here for that."

"For what?"

"Back when Loke was one of us," Gray began explaining. "He had a Guild Mark and everything, no one even knew he was a Celestial Spirit. Back then, he was called Leo. He changed it, because he to used to us calling him that all the time. Anyway, he'd been banished from the Celestial World. And he was dying." Juvia gasped.

"Dying, well then why..."

As Gray began retelling the story of how Lucy had come to acquire Loke's key, Mira and Lisanna were chatting at the bar. Lisanna could practically hear the gears beginning to turn in her older sister's head. (Mira had been out of the matchmaking game when Lucy had passed. But a little push wouldn't hurt if executed properly...)

"Mira, stop it," Lisanna commanded, cheeks flushed. "Stop it right now."

Mira giggled.

"But Lissa," she whined, reverting to an old childhood nickname."You're no fun..."

"If you mention a word of this to Bickslow," Lisanna hissed threateningly, "I _will_ be out for blood."

Mira waved off her baby sister's threat.

"Yeah huh, I hear you." An evil glimmer, clearly a Strauss-woman trademark, appeared in her eyes.

(Okay, so if you read the AN at the beginning, you know that there's some Mira/Laxus fluff. That starts now.)

"Oh? Well, how about this? What do you say I walk right up to Laxus and tell him-"

Mira reacted quickly, slapping a hand over Lisanna's smug smirk.

 _And tell him that you like him,_ Mira could her the ending of her sentence clearly in her head.

"Lisanna! Don't you dare!" Mira cried, scandalized. Lisanna wrenched her older sister's hand off of her lips, smiling at her sweetly.

"Just watch me."

And with that, Lisanna gracefully rose from her seat and skipped over to the Lightning Dragon Slayer.

"Laxus!" she called.

Quicker than lightning itself, Mira leapt over the counter, not caring that she was wearing a dress (and to be reasonable, she'd been seen in less before. She _was_ a model after all), or the glass she almost knocked over. Laxus watched it all go down, completely bewildered, as Mira tackled her little sister to the ground.

The whole guilt went silent, because watching Mirajane lose her cool was something that didn't happen often (and by often I mean, it didn't happen unless someone was going to die) since Mira had reformed herself all those years ago.

But Lisanna was lucky; Mira was much easier to evade when she was flustered. Too bad for Lisanna, Mira also fought twice as hard, at least, when she was desperate.

Lisanna slipped from under her sister's miscalculated iron grip, and Mira was left grasping at air. Lisanna made it about four steps before Mira jumped on her again, nearly tripping over her dress.

"Mira!" Lisanna whined, struggling to escape. "Lemme go! I just wanna talk to Laxus!"

"What exactly is going on over here?"

Mira stopped in her tracks, praying to god that it wasn't-

"Mira? What are you doing?' Laxus asked, baffled as to why the pretty (though he was not going to admit that to _anyone_ _,_ regardless of who was beating his ass for it), sweet barmaid was practically brawling with her little sister.

And, though he also wouldn't ever admit this, it was surprising how quickly Mira's reflexes were, despite her staying in the guild hall virtually the whole day.

Lisanna saw the opportunity, and took it.

"Mira want to tell you somethi-" Lisanna began in a singsongy voice, only for Mira to slap a hand over her mouth for the second time that day.

"No, no I didn't," Mira insisted, hissing something in Lisanna's ear that Laxus missed even with his heightened Dragon Slayer senses. Lisanna paled at her threat, or at least, that's what Laxus assumed it was. (It was kind of a no brainer, really.)

Releasing Lisanna, Mira, felt her cheeks redden, realizing what she'd done.

 _Ohmygod! I did not please tell me I didn't just attack my little sister in the middle of the guild hall!_ Mira cried in her head, mortified. She just wanted to curl up in a ball, and for a hole open up underneath her swallow her.

Instead, Mira settled for the 'deer-in-caught-in-headlights' look, and scampering away, spewed excuses as she made her way back to the bar.

Lisanna, however, had other plans.

Whistling, Lisanna casually stuck her foot out.

For a moment, all was right in the world, as an embarrassed Mira rushed back to her work station.

The next second, Mira's foot snagged on Lisanna's.

And then Mira was sprawled over Laxus' chest, her head nestled right in the juncture between his shoulder and his jaw, and her lags straddling his hips.

Both Mira and Laxus groaned; Laxus feeling like he'd been hit and knocked over by a train (I promise I'm _not trying_ to be cruel), and Mira feeling like she'd run into a steel wall. They both were two of the most powerful, physically strong mages in all of Fairy Tail after all.

If it had been anyone else, Laxus wouldn't have been knocked over, period. To be knocked over from the sheer force of just tripping forwards, was a feat that was... thought to be impossible.

If it had been anyone else, Mira would _not_ feel as woozy as she did, laying on the uneven ground.

 _Huh?_

Mira, rubbing her sore forehead, which had been the first part to collied with Laxus, winced. Laxus, completely flat on his back, let out another groan.

Eyes cracking open, Laxus let out a strangled yelp.

Which Lisanna, standing off to the side, found _extremely_ funny.

Mira, disoriented, rubbed her eyes. She blearily looked around, blinking rapidly.

And then she looked down.

And saw an uncharacteristically speechless Laxus.

She simply blinked at him, uncomprehendingly, for a few seconds.

And then her eyes widened, and she flushed about twelve shades of red in the span of half a second.

"LAXUS!" Mira shrieked, scrambling off (or at least attempting to) of him. "I am SO sorry!"

Laxus, still frozen with shock and the fear that this was all some twisted fantasy his subconscious was acting out briefly flitting through his mind

 _Goddamit Natsu, your delusions better not be contagious._

Mira struggled, though her efforts were futile. Laxus' strong hands were firm against her hips, holding her securely in place.

Lisanna was roaring with laughter now, grasping at her sides trying to contain herself.

And Bickslow...

He was admiring the view of the youngest Strauss sibling, with her cheeks flushed, and failing miserably at keeping it together.

 _My my, this is quite amusing,_ Evergreen thought to herself, hiding a smirk behind her fan.

Laxus was on the ground, complete and utter infatuation written all over his dumbstruck face.

Mira looked absolutely horrified, and absolute humiliation turned her entire face the color of Erza's hair. Her hands planted on his chest, and her leaning over him with her legs straddling him, the whole situation could be interpreted ina _very_ different way.

Just the thought of what the whole scene looked like made Mira appalled.

 _Ohmygod I knocked over Laxus! I'm sitting **on** Laxus! Mira get ahold of yourself! _ Mira mentally wailed, the sudden realization rendering unable to move once more.

Laxus blinked once more.

"I- I'm so sorry," Mira stuttered out, her apology sounding very far away in her ears. "I'm just gonna go now."

Laxus' eye twitched, as he suddenly realized that this was most definitely real, and _holy shit Mirajane Strauss was literally draped over him._

His epiphany suddenly threw him into action, and he bolted upright without thinking.

Mira, thrown off balance, locked her arms around Laxus' neck, effectively preventing herself from being flung off. She squeaked, squeezing her eyes shut as she cursed her reflexes.

Master Makarov calmly sipped his beer from across the room, wondering if his great-grandchildren would inherit their father's stubbornness.

Or his horrific, painfully awkward way of going about getting a woman.

He really hoped not. Especially the latter.

Lisanna, deciding that her poor sister had suffered enough, pried a shell-shocked Mirajane Strauss off of an equally shocked Laxus Dreyar.

Dragging Mira away, Lisanna called back over her shoulder.

"Mira just wanted to let you know that you left your jacket upstairs!"

Laxus watched the frazzled Mira allow herself to be lugged across the Guild Hall.

As soon as her (really very pretty) form was out of sight, Laxus collapsed back on the ground.

 _I swear to god this Guild will be the death of me._

* * *

Lucy couldn't even begin to express her frustration.

She really couldn't see _anything_ at this point, and while that didn't stop her from making her way to the guild, it was pretty annoying.

Her feet for the most part knew the way, but they didn't know every crack and hole in the road. And for someone who was blindly running at top speed through torrential rains, that wasn't exactly a good thing. Lucy found herself tripping over the hem of her dress and only worsening the condition of her knees every other step. Lucy had changed right before she had fled the Spirit World; into a flow, white dress that was currently sticking to her like a second skin. (Even though this is totally unrealistic, pretend that the thing isn't totally transparent from the water.)

Lucy panted, after tripping yet again, and then proceeded to lean over and cough up some rainwater. resuming her walk again, Lucy left a trail of bloody footprints, before they were washed away by the rain. Her outfit was ruined (the one she'd changed into shortly before fleeing

Everything was turning a bit numb, despite the fact that it was a warm summer rain. (After all, she'd been frantically running through the downpour for more than thirty minute by now.)

Every wobbly step, every hesitation, every fall and every wrong turn was another delay from seeing Natsu.

Lucy knew, deep in her heart, that her desperation for someone else's mate was so... morally wrong and disgusting. She hated herself for that, for not being able to be the better person and back off. But right now, Lucy just wanted to see her partner, and apologize for leaving.

 _Natsu, hang on,_ Lucy thought, desperately. She rounded another corner.

 _I'm almost there. I'm coming._

* * *

Natsu's hair was dripping wet.

He'd stepped out of the Guild Hall, going on his daily trip to see Lucy. From the noise, he'd assumed that the rain was pretty heavy.

And now, sopping wet and clad in drenched clothing, one could assume he'd been correct with his assumption.

His hair was drooping downwards, flattening against his head. He looked exhausted, more so than usual. Dark circles hung under his eyes, making his face look a startling white in comparison.

His jaw clenched, he looked like he was ready to kill someone.

This was when the skill came in handy.

Every member of Fairy Tail had picked up a skill since that fateful day, when Natsu had destroyed the train station; interpreting the moods of Natsu Dragneel, and exactly what the cause of that was. The easiest days were the ones when Natsu had a soft look in his eyes, and even deemed the day worthy of a smile. Those were the days when he got lost in the blissful memories of Lucy, and he seemed to almost... accept her passing.

Then there were the days when he wore a permanent brooding expression. Those days, Natsu was simply lost in thought, wondering what do now, and how to recover. How to move on.

Very recently, those days had been put to an end, as he realized he was not moving on. _Ever._

Every do often, Natsu got angry. Like today.

He just hated everything, he hated the world for taking away Lucy, he hated that stupid train for taking Lucy away from him and dumping her body in a wasteland, and he hated fate for being so cruel, and most of all he hated himself for just deluding himself with the excuse of 'she makes me sick.'

Those were the days he often went on missions, and annihilated everything in his path.

Now, seeing Natsu glowering with rage, Gray worried that maybe the Guild Hall wasn't the best place for Natsu to be right now. After all, his anger was building, and there was nowhere for it to go, no outlet, no nothing.

But back to the phases of Natsu's moods...

Then there came the crying days. The days Natsu was hit by everything at once, _hard_ , and the grief overwhelmed him. (I'm sorry if I'm making Natsu sound like a pansy, but I promise I'll try and minimize that.)

Natsu didn't have those anymore.

Thank god for that.

Erza didn't know how many more times she could watch Natsu break.

* * *

The first clap of thunder, made Lucy jump.

But the first flash of lighting illuminated the Guild banner, proudly hanging off of the giant structure that towered over her, and over all of Magnolia. Lucy was tired, cold, wet, and bleeding.

Glass shards had lodged themselves into her feet, and by now, the pain was catching up with her, and her adrenaline was running out. Lucy felt drained, ready to collapse and just cry for letting herself get hurt so bad.

Her family, just on the other side of those wooden doors, were probably worried sick about her, or at the very least angry for having left on such a long job without leaving so much as a note.

Lucy, finally seeing her destination right in front of her, nearly whooped with joy.

Lucy realized she needed new clothes.

Lucy also realized she needed to have her side stitched up again, or she really was going to bleed out.

And lastsly, even Lucy could recognize that she was in desperate need of her Dragon Slayer.

* * *

And then, with a loud bang, and a flash of light (presumably the lightning), the doors of the Fairy Tail guild hall opened.

* * *

 **So... Not completely awful? Alright? Was is WAY too OOC?**

 **-Pyro**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Hey guys!**

 **Like always, I give a huge thank you to:**

 **nico2883**

 **ckc14**

 **Epicstar31**

 **starfiresusan18**

 **Lilitraum**

 **Nicholas695**

 **Athamie**

 **devilhuntermistress**

 **beebee367**

 **dian16july**

 **xXBaLeFiReXx**

 **Yuna Hirako**

 **Dark Raven 19**

 **manic kitty**

 **sabi2000**

 **SapphireCookieFairy**

 **ZeroShadez**

 **tigerwaterflower6**

 **WolfSlayerGirl17**

 **XxMonsterUNderYourBedxX**

 **NickyDawn**

 **Sakurako Nagasaki**

 **Katie wall**

 **AvaMarie234- hope the wait wasn't too long this time!**

 **MsCookieSmuggler- Really? Awesome, I'm _definitely_ gonna hang onto that idea. (I hope you can find the story somehow if I do write a fic for that...) Glad you thought it was funny! I was honestly worried, I didn't know if it would come off as funny or juvenile and stupid.**

 **Chocolate Rain- Well I mean, it's not exactly a suicide mission; Lucy still has energy from the Spirit World pumping thorough her veins; it' jus taking longer for the magic to react and heal her. But I promise, she'll be all healed up in no time. And who knows? Maybe that excess energy is good for more than just healing... (*winks poorly*) And no, he probably isn't coming to her rescue this time. Lucy has them all held back in the Spirit World.**

 **Wonderwomanbatmanfan- I PROMISE I WASN'T TRYING TO TEASE YOU I'M SO SORRY WAIT PLEASE COME BACK**

 **TokyoTeddyWolf- *SCREAMS BACK* I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO I AM UPDATING, RIGHT NOW ACTUALLY, AND hey, what would life be like without cliff hangers?**

 **Kantarou- (Yes guys, I know I'm repeating responses and I'll try to make them as different as I can), but... See? I did update! And it didn't take me _forever_.**

 **Nocholas695- Really? You don't think it was too... similar to other fanfics? Awesome! I'm not a cliché right now! I love that you love it, and I'm glad that you think my story is different.**

 **Sapphire Water Maiden- *gulps while reading your review* You love me and this story (aww, thank you) _BUT_... oh. Course I'll update as often as I can! I hate being away from you guys for too long!**

 **Aizu-Ran-field- yeah, I know right? I've been waiting for it too! (Trust me, the wait for this has felt like _an_ _eternity...)_**

 **sabrina-luna-potter- Yep! Finally, after all this waiting.**

 **Cassi0chan- Nope! (Thank god...) Natsu's just moping in the back of the guild hall (like, on the top floor). Don't worry, they'll meet up son enough...**

 **The King Of Dragons- I know, the cliffhanger was... probably super annoying. But, glad you liked the Laxus/Mira bit. (Okay, guys please tell me if you'd rather Laxus/Mira or Mira/Freed because I'm totally fine with either, I guess. But just for future reference. *hint hint*)**

 **Zyrothe- Really? You don't think so? Great? And, yeah, flustered Laxus is literally the funniest thing ever.**

 **booklover21567- Wow. Really? Alright then, well here you go then!**

 **Gothazon- Okay, I hope yo all don't hate me, because writing the reunion was _so hard and ohmygod I'm cringing just thinking about how hard it was_ , and I'm really sorry if it wasn't as good as you hoped it'd be.**

 **TheBayMan- Thanks! That means a lot to me!**

 **IbeWildBella124- Dude. There is NO SUCH THING as talking too much! I love hearing fro you guys, especially the long reviews! Thank you for the offer, I really need the support. Yes, I'm well aware, I HATE cliffhangers (which makes me a hypocrite I guess) Glad it felt emotional enough. (It did... right?)**

 **Not-a-princess- Yes, I agree, Natsu and Lucy are SO CUTE!**

 **BrokenPiecesOfHell- I really hope I get to see those eventually too! (*prays that Hiro Mashima will make it canon, and with every other ship in the manga*) Yeah, I felt the same way, but I'm hoping to keep this fic Rated T... And dude... Yes. The thing about Tokyo Ghoul... I agree. (I personally vote to keep the Kurumi/Nightmare pic.)**

 **SmuxyBCFT- Glad to hear !**

 **Miss Jackson Grayson- Same here. And, again, I apologize for the cliffhanger guys... (Your heart? Try my heart after having to write all of this angst.)**

 **And I have NO IDEA how many times I** **have to repeat myself, but please leave a name next time. But for the love of god, no one ever listens to me, and I find myself with more people who I can't thank properly!**

 **To the guest who said this was a great chapter, I'm glad.**

 **To the second one: I WANT A NALU REUNION TOO like really you do not know how many times I rewrote the reunion part, because it had to be _perfect_. Or at least, as close as I was gonna get to perfect.  I'm still kind of disappointed on how I pulled this off, so leave a review if you want me to re write it! (I NEVER use underlined words for emphasis, so please note that that's really important!)**

 **The one who said for me to write faster- I'm sorry, but I couldn't get it done faster because I had an extreme case of writer's block...**

 **To the other one, I _plan_ on continuing. **

**And to the last guest, I know it was kinda mean, but it felt like a natural place to end it...**

 **I've still got to write the reunion with the rest of Team Natsu after this! Don't worry, we're not quite done yet!**

* * *

The first thing they saw was a silhouette. Just a dark shape against a screen of white.

A shadow was cast forward for a moment, before the lightning vanished.

Standing there, was a both relieved, and frantic girl.

Her hair hung in her eyes in damp clumps, and she was bleeding.

A lot.

Pushing her hair back with a hand, a hand bearing a guild mark that looked _ver_ _y_ familiar, she smiled apologetically. Blood smeared across her face, from the cut above her eye.

Never the less, the so achingly familiar smile knocked the wind out of the blue-haired girl, whose book lay on the floor, forgotten.

And then, after a second of silence, Levy McGarden let out a bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

Natsu winced, hearing an ear piercing scream ring out through the air.

He was tired; ready to pretty much collapse. He'd gone to Lucy's grave today. And though unusual, it appeared that Natsu wasn't quite down with the bad, mourning days when he wanted to just curl up and cry.

Gajeel, who'd been shaking the other Dragon Slayer's shoulder, stiffened, and snapped his head up.

 _Levy._

Gajeel snarled, alerting Natsu.

"Levy!" Gajeel roared, fearing that she'd gotten injured.

Leaping over the banister (they'd been on the second floor), Natsu followed closely behind the Iron Dragon Slayer, who looked ready to smash someone's head in for causing the little bookworm to scream.

There stood Levy, who stood, rigid, staring at the door like she'd seen a ghost.

And in a way, she had.

Natsu was sprinting behind Gajeel. Natsu, while he might not have had the same motivation as Gajeel, knew he had to protect Lucy's closest girl friend. He owed her that much at the very least.

But Gajeel went skidding to a stop, causing Natsu to collide with his back. He stumbled back, falling to the floor. Mira, frozen at the bar, squeezed a glass so hard that is shattered.

Her eyes wide, she let her mouth hang open.

Natsu, leapt to his feet, recovering quickly.

"Levy? What is it?"

Pushing past the other two, and wondering why everyone else in the guild had gone completely silent, Natsu cracked his knuckles.

"Are you hurt? Wha-"

Natsu froze in his tracks, because before him, stood the subject of his very nightmares.

Lucy.

* * *

Lucy staggered in, suddenly every thought other than the urge to see Natsu flying out the window. Staggering forward, her bad leg close to giving out, she winced. Her arms which had been wrapped tightly around her abdomen to lessen the bleeding, lowered.

She was just staring at him, a silent apology shining through her glistening eyes.

And Natsu...

Natsu remained paralyzed, eyes wide and shaking.

Lucy held out her hand, brushing his forehead.

And without warning, Lucy threw herself forwards, locking her arms around Natsu's torso. She began to sob, and suddenly everything came crashing down.

"I'm sorry Natsu," Lucy said, voice quivering, as her whole body began to shake. She bit her lip. "I'm sorry for leaving on a mission without telling you, and I'm sorry for disappearing on you guys. I'm so-"

Lucy choked on a sob, her apology lodging itself in her throat.

Over her shoulder, Natsu had hot, fat tears dripping down his face.

"Lucy," the word, the name he'd been prone to crying recently, came through his lips in a shaky whisper, barely audible. He hesitantly brought a trembling hand to her hair, terrified that his delusions were finally making him _actually_ insane.

But judging by the feel of her damp hair, and feeling her heart beating against him frantically, Lucy was here.

And breathing.

Natsu stumbled back, his breathing beginning to become labored.

"I didn't plan on going away for so long" Lucy confessed, not loosening her grip. "I was just so sad, and I wanted to get better at magic, and I'm sorry for leaving on a mission without telling you first."

The whole guild watched, in horrified amazement, at their celestial Mage who had somehow escaped death, and returned to her home. And to her family.

And most importantly, to Natsu.

Natsu, regaining enough composure to form a coherent thought, stammered. Lucy drew back, noticing the moisture on his cheeks, panicked.

Unfortunately for her, her interpretation of his unusual show of emotion was incorrect. Actually, looking at it, it was almost comical, how wrongly she had comprehended the reason for his tears.

"But I'll never do it again!" Lucy added quickly. "I won't ever complain about you leaving on a job without me again! I'll stay and wait next time and-"

Natsu suddenly reared back, grasping at his hair.

"NO!" He screamed, squeezing his head. "NO NO NO NO NO!" He was scrambling away from the frighteningly real apparition before him, desperately clutching his head in his arms.

"STOP IT!" Natsu howled. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE HER ANYMORE!" His voice cracked, and it was more than obvious that Natsu was very very close to reaching his breaking point. His brain seemed to have shorted out, in that moment when he'd first seen Lucy.

He was trying to squeeze his brain, so it would stop playing these cruel, stupid games on him. He hated being tricked by his own mind, and he hated seeing Lucy every day, like nothing had changed; as if she were still okay.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Natsu finished, putting his head between his knees.

Lucy put her hands in front of her, approaching him like he was a wild animal.

Through her lips came a soft, comforting tune that Natsu had heard her hum in her sleep before. She sang the wordless lullaby softly, the tune making Natsu ease automatically. He gave a surprised, stifled sort of gasp.

He hadn't heard that melody in what felt like an eternity.

His shoulders slumped, in defeat, and he simply decided to endure whatever torture his brain had in store for him. He would love every second of it, until he remembered that this wasn't real, and that he would have to eventually return to the world where Lucy was dead. Then he'd have to go through grief of losing her all over again.

It was hell, watching her fade away each time, right before his very eyes.

But for some reason, this Lucy wasn't smiling happily at him, waving silently.

Lucy was always smiling when he remembered her. He hated seeing her any way else.

This Lucy looked... awful. She was limping and wet and bleeding and looked very scared.

Of him.

She was approaching him slowly, singing a soft song that had once lulled him to sleep on rough nights.

Lucy brought her hands down, covering his with her own. With his hands in hers, she kneels so she was level with him.

"Natsu," she said carefully. "It's me. See?" She put one of his hands over her heart. The gentle thrumming made his eyes go wide, and he sat up.

He just stared at her, expectant eyes twinkling with happiness.

"I'm back."

Natsu crushed her into his chest. Lucy, surprised, squeaked.

"Lucy," he muttered though his confusion and unbridled joy at seeing the blonde.

"I missed you so much," Natsu mewled, the tears really coming down now. "I missed you every damn minute of the day." Natsu repeated, his mantra looping through his head in a relentless cycle.

And then, the floodgates were broken down, as Natsu sobbed on the floor, his Lucy cradled in his arms.

* * *

It almost felt like they were intruding, watching Natsu cry his heart out, and a baffled Lucy comforting him in spite of her confusion.

"Shh," Lucy shushed him, stroking his hair. "I'm here Natsu. I promise, I won't ever go away again."

She looked over at Levy, who was still pale, and grasping Gajeel's wrist so hard, Lucy suspected she was cutting off blood circulation. (Though, Gajeel seemed to preoccupied with the task of staring at Lucy to care.)

"What?" Lucy asked. Self consciously, she wiped at her face. When her hand came back red, she stared.

"Oh. I'm bleeding," she stated, unconcerned, then turned back to Natsu when he finally came up for air, his cries dying out.

"You're my Lucy," he whispered, reaching out to hold her shoulders. He stared her dead in the eyes, the warm, brown eyes that he had missed so much. He sniffed her, and his nose confirmed what his eyes were telling him. This was no hallucination, this was not figment of his imagination.

This was his Lucy.

He stroked the side of her face, gently, wiping away some of the blood with the pad of his thumb. He just stared at her, unable to speak, unable to do anything other than hold and touch and think about Lucy.

His mate.

Disbelieving, Natsu's hand moved on it's own accord, and hesitantly brought itself to her heart once more.

The steady thumping was the solid proof for his epiphany to finally take hold.

He stared at his hand, the absurd, too-good-to-be-true possibility finally settling in his head.

Lucy, concerned, brought her face closer to his.

"Natsu? What's wrong with you? What are you acting so weird?"

She turned to face all of her family, who was still watching with a careful eye.

 _Is she real?_

 _I think I'm seeing things._

 _Am I... am I catching Natsu's madness?_

Thoughts of confusion hovered over them all, and yet, no one moved a muscle.

Lucy rose, careful to keep their hands joined.

She turned her head, taking all of the horrified, slack-jawed faces of the guild mates who hadn't gone home yet. Every. Single. One.

"What's wrong with you?" Lucy demanded. "All of you?"

She turned to Natsu.

"And you," she said, her voice much softer.

"Natsu... You're..."

"You were dead," Levy whispered, more talking to herself than anything. "You were dead and bleeding and there's no way you can- you're _dead_." Levy choked on the last word, her eyes squeezing shut for a moment, as she remembered the funeral, and them all crying in the rain.

"You were gone," Levy cut back in again. "You were gone for _three months._ _You were dead!_ " Levy insisted. Gajeel reeled her in.

"You're gonna give yourself an epileptic fit or somethin' Shorty," he said gruffly. But he too, had his head bowed in wonder. Levy reached out, and Lucy grasped her hand.

Feeling her warm hand in hers, Levy stared down at the pink mark in wonder.

Levy bounded forward in a single step.

"Lucy," she cried. "You're back."

"It's me, Lev," Lucy said, the whole 'dead' comment not sinking in.

One.

Two.

"Eh? Dead?!"

"A train, Lucy. You were thrown off the back of a train."

Lucy sheepishly scratched the back of her neck.

"Oh. So you all heard about that." Lucy hung her head, ashamed that her entire family had caught word of her failure. However, Levy wasn't done.

"Yes. Yes, we heard about how you were _flung off a train and died a horrible bloody death!"_ Levy cried shrilly.

Lucy eyes sparkled with recognition, and her head jerking to look at her friends around her.

"But I wasn't- I mean I didn't..." Lucy voice faltered, as she tried to find the words to explain what she'd done; and what had happened. "I-I was just impaled by some scrap metal-" Lucy cut herself off, slapping her forehead once she realized what that sounded like.

Natsu had finally passed out, the strain of the crying and screaming and the shock of seeing Lucy having become too much.

"The stress finally got to him," Gajeel murmured, wondering how the Fire Dragon Slayer had managed to stay upright as long as he had.

Lucy sighed, pushing aside a stray lock of pink hair from his face before turning back to Levy.

"I mean, well this guy that me and Natsu fought this one time wanted a rematch and I just-"

It was at that moment, that everyone had had enough, and leapt on Lucy. Levy especially.

"LUCY!"

The events that followed went by in a blur, one that Lucy didn't understand very well.

There was a lot of crying. _A lot_.

Levy was sobbing into her shirt, still, and for a girl with such a small frame, she had surprising amount of strength.

Mirajane especially had been an event in itself. Mira had hysterically been crying her eyes out while Lucy patted her back reassuringly.

She was reunited with Cana, Mira, (who apologized profusely, to which Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend), Gajeel (who deemed her worthy of a brief hug), Romeo (who returned, and was joyous to know he wasn't crazy), and Elfman.

Elfman, of course, had even shed a tear or two, saying that Lucy was very 'man' for escaping death and surviving.

After pretty much everyone at the guild had at least gotten a glimpse of the Celestial Mage. The guild hall was pretty empty anyway. Mostly everyone had gone home by now. (It had to have been at least midnight by now, if not later.)

Fortunately for her, it had been decided that she could explain the whole tale tomorrow, when she wasn't completely exhausted.

Natsu was still unconscious, and color was beginning to return to his cheeks.

Looking down at the sleeping Dragon Slayer with a sadness in her eyes that made even Levy tear up.

 _I can't believe it_ _Shit._ Levy cursed. _Goddammit Lucy still think Natsu's in love with-_

"Hey Levy," Lucy suddenly said. "I think I'm gonna take Natsu back to my place. He seems-"

"Your stuff is all downstairs," Levy interrupted. "Your apartment is vacant now."

"Oh." Lucy blinked. She'd forgotten all about that. "Well then I guess I'll have to just take him home."

"No but Lucy, wait there's something I-"

Natsu whimpered in his sleep, and Levy knew what came next. But Lucy then grabbed his hand, rubbing soothing circles with her thumb.

Levy watched, amazed, as his nightmare was warded off.

"But Lucy, really, you should know about Lisan-"

This time Lucy cut her of, leaving no room for argument.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lucy said, her voice hard. "I'll find Lisanna tomorrow morning and tell her that Natsu seemed a little upset tonight." Levy scoffed.

"Upset? Lucy, I thought you were smarter than that. Natsu was absolutely _devastated_ when we thought you died. He'd had his heart ripped out after losing his should have seen it Luce."

Wisely not mentioning Lisanna, (though, she knew that it would come back to bite her in the butt later), because that was clearly a sore subject, Levy cleared her throat.

Gajeel opened his mouth to correct Lucy (he was still around because there was no way in hell that Levy was gonna walk home alone in the dark), but Levy shot him a glare clearly reading 'don't push it.'

 _Leave it to Natsu. It's his problem now,_ Levy silently communicated.

 _He deserves to be the one to tell her._

He nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Lucy asked, hoisting Natsu so one of his arms was draped around her. Supporting his weight, she began struggling forward with him, half-hopping because of her bad leg. Gajeel snorted, elbowing past Mira, who was just locking up, to take Natsu from her.

"Blondie, if you think we're gonna let you carry Salamander like _that_ ," He nodded down at the dried blood making her clothes stiff and her bad leg, and her cut up feet, which were actually healing as they spoke. "Then you've got something coming' to ya."

Lucy gave him a grateful smile, as she limp/hopped along to Natsu's place.

Levy eyed the scratches on her knees in wonderment as they began to sew themselves up.

She also noticed the scar that protruded from her shirt and snaked its way over her collarbone and up her neck.

And once again, wisely said nothing.

* * *

Lucy collapsed into bed with Natsu. (Goddamit, not like that, _get your head out of the gutter_ )

Automatically, he drew her in his arms, mumbling to himself softly. Lucy let out a squeak of protest, trying to escape his grasp.

 _I gotta shower first, and maybe wash my clothes out or-_

 _Lisanna! God, what would she do if she knew! I mean, she'd probably flip out, regardless of me being supposedly dead-_

However, Lucy froze in her tracks when Natsu let out a pained whimper, crying out.

And then he wailed.

"Lucy..." He moaned. "Don't go..."

Lucy drew her arm away slowly, only for him to cling to her tighter.

And when the actual tears appeared on his cheeks, every thought of leaving left her mind.

She clambered back into bed, humming him the soft lullaby and stroking his hair.

He stilled, capturing her entire frame with his arms.

Sighing, knowing she would just have to leave first thing in the morning (hopefully before Natsu even woke up), Lucy settled down, trying to think of anything other than the Sleeping Dragon Slayer beside her.

But when she turned, there he was; her little sleeping dragon.

Her face softened, and she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

And there she slept, unknowingly cuddling with her mate.

* * *

Natsu woke up, and for the first time in months, he was genuinely, amazingly happy.

And then he looked down.

There, sleeping contently in his arms, was Lucy Heartfilia.

He was content, and hugged her tighter, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

All of that, however, was drowned out by the shock at seeing Lucy safely in his arms.

Stumbling away from her, he fell out of bed. Tangled up in the same sheets as him, Lucy followed him over the edge. He landed with a grunt, trying to untangle himself from the mess of cloth as quickly as he could.

Finally freeing himself, he scrambled away from her unconscious form.

Her clothes were caked with dried blood, and she had a little cut above her eye that, he would later swear was _healing right before his very eyes._

But none of that mattered, because he would actually see her chest rising and falling because _holy shit she was actually breathing._ He scooted forward, hesitantly, taking in the intricate details that his hallucinations hadn't possessed in a long time.

He hated to admit it, but his memory of her had been fading. Faster than he'd like to admit. (Of course, he'd rather she be immortalized in his mind _forever_ , but that obviously wasn't going to happen.)

But now, his little fantasies were getting out of hand.

 _Really,_ out of hand.

All the detail, the light bouncing off of her eyelashes, the creases in her shirt, the smell was exactly perfect, and she wasn't blurry and out of focus, like she usually was.

But then Lucy's eyes cracked open, one after the other, and she groaned as the bright light filtering thorough his windows hit her sensitive eyes.

Groaning, she stretched, yawning. Looking around blearily, she spotted Natsu and gave him a sleepy smile, before jolting upright.

 _Shit._

 _I was supposed to have left already!_

Before Lucy could leap to her feet, Natsu was up in her face, studying her with rapt attention. He scratched his chin, staring deep into her eyes. He even went as far as to poke her in the forehead.

"Hey!"

Natsu yanked his hand back, eyes growing wider.

 _I don't think I've ever heard her talk before in a-_

Lucy sighed, well aware of Natsu's train of thought. Tentatively, she brought their hands together, raising them for him to see.

"Natsu," she repeated her words from the previous night. "It's me." When he continued to stare at her like she was speaking a foreign language, she slumped.

"It's Lucy."

And everything hit him all at once.

Hazy images of her flashed back at him from last night, making him dizzy as they rapidly played through his head. But that was all pushed to the side, as he suddenly fell forwards, scooping her up in a tight embrace.

Natsu could feel his eyes watering.

Aaaand the tears were making a reappearance.

He was sniveling like a little baby.

And he honestly didn't care.

Crying into her shirt, and holding her to his chest like his life depended on it, Natsu still managed to smile.

 _It's Lucy,_ he thought to himself in wonder. His wavering smile widened. _It's her. It's Lucy._

He pulled away, looking her up and down, still disbelieving of what he saw.

But no, it was Lucy, and she was alive and breathing.

Who was very much still in love with the pink haired (though, he insisted it was salmon) idiot.

He brought her back into a bone-crunching hug seconds after,

But as she was pretty much being strangled by the strength of his embrace, Lucy could feel sadness creeping up on her. She smiled back reassuringly, though, in spite of that.

"Yeah Natsu, don't you remember yesterday?" Lucy asked, giggling.

"I missed you," Natsu said, his voice muffled by her shirt. "I missed you so much."

Lucy let him get it out of his system rubbing his back as they sat on his bedroom floor.

He drew back again, tapping her nose.

"I thought you were dead, you dummy. You could have waited. Where were you hiding?" he said, only half-joking. He quickly turned serious, just thinking about it.

"I-"

"You were perfectly strong, Lucy. No one wanted you to change. You didn't _have_ to try and change yourself."

"I _wanted_ to get stronger, Natsu. It was my decision."

"Why did you leave without us?" He demanded. "We're partners, Lucy. We're supposed to stick together."

"You left me first!" Lucy snapped, and instantly regretted it. She couldn't look at him. She would _not_ look at him because she knew if she looked at him she'd see-

 _Aww shit, too late._

The hurt and regret reflected in his eyes made Lucy wish she hadn't opened her big mouth in the first place.

"I'm sorry Natsu," Lucy finally managed, trying her hardest to not look at him. "I was just... lonely, when you all left, okay? I mean, I know that you and Lisanna just needed to have some time together. But there was no one at the guild, and even Gray and Erza-"

Natsu touched their foreheads together.

"Lucy..."

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut.

"Natsu... stop."

He blinked.

 _Huh?_

"Please... just stop," Lucy pleaded.

He was so close; so damn close to her and dammit she had to stop him before her hopes got crushed.

"This isn't fair; to me and especially to Lisanna." Lucy drew back, still not looking at him. "I missed you too Natsu. Really. And I'm sorry for leaving for so long. I didn't mean to. But I was-"

"How the hell did Lisanna get into this conversation?" Natsu growled. "Because I'm no genius, but that's the second time she'd been brought up in this conversation. What gives, Luce?"

"I don't think your _mate_ would be very happy about you getting so close to someone who's been dead for three months," Lucy snarled, spitting the horrid word out. Her jealousy was eating away at her slowly, and Lucy hated that she couldn't be a better, more supportive friend.

"My mate?!" Natsu asked, incredulous. "What the _hell_ are you going on about now?"

"I know you know what a mate is," Lucy said, jabbing a finger at him. "Natsu Dragneel, don't even try playing dumb with me. And I know you'd know when you found yours."

"And?" He asked, getting impatient. "So what if I do?"

"Dragon Slayers mate for life, correct me if I'm wrong. Coming between mates is stupid and pointless, and I am _not_ getting my heart broken even worse-" Lucy cut herself off, taking a deep breath.

"Yes, Lucy, I know how mates work. Igneel told me already. But I still don't get _what the hell you're going on about!"_

"Lisanna is your mate, Natsu! And I'm just trying to be a good friend and you're only making it _harder!"_ Lucy yelled, losing her temper and shoving him back.

"Dammit Natsu, I'm trying to be supportive of you, and for once in your life would you just cooperate with me?!" Lucy yelled, pounding her fist against his chest.

"Lucy," he said, sounding something quickly manifesting into anger. "Do you _still_ think Lisanna is my mate?"

Lucy just continued to keep her face shielded with her hair, as he stared down at her.

"After all of this, all the crying and the hugging, you think _Lisanna is my mate?"_ Natsu shook her gently.

"You really must be stupider than I thought."

And with that, Natsu bent down and kissed Lucy.

* * *

Lucy's head had been about to burst with all of the thoughts churning around in her brain.

Now, she couldn't recall a single one of them.

All she could think about Natsu's lips were touching her own and _holy shit where in the world did he_ _learn to do that?_

Gathering her in his lap, Natsu's arms were pulling her closer, so she was flush against him. His mouth was moving against hers, fireworks going off behind his closed eyes.

Lucy seemed to be enjoying herself, as she took his bottom lip between her teeth. When Natsu's tongue actually invaded her mouth, Lucy practically melted. Pulling away, both gasping for breath, Lucy looked at Natsu incredulously.

He looked positively _radiant_ , as he sat in the aftershock of his first kiss.

Lucy's jaw went slack.

"You said... Lisanna's _not_ your mate?" Lucy asked, trying to wrap her head around the idea. Natsu rolled his eyes, huffing.

"I think I made it pretty clear just now that I'm mated to someone else," Natsu answered, crossing his arms. Lucy nodded slowly.

"So... Me?" Her erratic heartbeat was all the way up in her ears.

Natsu let out a breath of air.

"Yes, _you._ " Natsu responded, gathering her in for another smothering hug. "Dummy. I love _you._ "

Lucy, disbelieving shook her head.

"But... I'm not Lisanna."

Natsu slapped his forehead, leaving a bight red mark behind.

" _I know."_

"But then-"

"I don't _want_ Lisanna. I want _you_ because you're _my Lucy,"_ Natsu responded, stressing the last two words. Lucy, slightly amused, raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, so now I'm _yours_ huh?" Lucy asked, crossing her arms as well. Natsu, realizing his mistake, could feel his ears reddening. His hands fluttered about wildly in front of him, as he tried to fix his blunder.

"I mean- I mean if you want to, because I mean even though I'm kind of your mate; and mates are forever I understand if the feelings are one-sided and don't feel obligated to agree because I don't want you to just- and I know that girls aren't objects that belong to people Cana already yelled at Loke for saying that once, I remember because- "

Lucy cut off his nervous rambling.

"Natsu, am I really your mate?"

He didn't even hesitate.

"Yes, of course."

"And do you love me?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Lucy grinned, having heard exactly what she'd wanted to hear.

Yanking him down to her level by his collar, she whispered as their lips were fractions of an inch apart:

"Then yes, Natsu, I'm yours. Your mate."

And then she pulled him down, and their lips met for the second time.

* * *

Gray and Erza walked home in silence.

Gray had his hands in his pockets (his pants pockets, of course. He'd discarded his shirt some ways back.) Erza somberly looked down at her boots as she walked along.

They'd left for a mission with Happy just yesterday, and had arrived late at night in the small town not too far from Magnolia. (They would have gotten there faster, but they both had an understandable thing about not taking trains.) The job had been ridiculously easy, and had taken three hours.

Now, on foot, they were making their way home.

Happy walked in between the two, and looked up at Gray.

"Gray?" He asked in a small voice. Gray looked down at the small blue Exceed.

"Hmm?"

"...Natsu's getting worse, isn't he?"

Erza's stride wavered. Nearly twisting her ankle, she tripped over a loose stone. She recovered though, not turing around, knowing that Gray and Happy were exchanging concerned glances.

Gray sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I... honestly think he might be," Gray admitted reluctantly. "At least, he's not getting any better. He acts like he's improving But we all know he's not over it. And while I don't know what it's like to lose a mate, I know losing someone you love is traumatizing. And Natsu... she was it for him. And her never even told her."

Their moods darkened considerably after that.

"Natsu didn't even get to say goodbye." Gray bowed his head.

"None of us did."

* * *

The guild hall was unsuspecting when Mira casually dropped Lucy's name.

"You know, this is Lucy's favorite drink," Mira nonchalantly said, handing a strawberry lemonade to Wendy. The guild went silent, shocked when Mira didn't stiffen and realize her little slip.

Mira just continued whistling, smiling funnily as she wiped down a dirty glass.

Lisanna, shocked at her sister's unusual ignorance, nudged her in the ribs with her elbow.

"Mira!" She cried. "Shh! Don't let Natsu hear you!"

Mira simply smiled, further scandalizing her sister.

"Don't worry. Natsu's fine."

"Mira, what on earth-"

The guild doors creaked open, and there stood Natsu, with a cowering girl hiding behind him.

"What if they don't want to see me?" Lucy panicked, whispering in Natsu's ear. Natsu smiled toothily, pecking her on the cheek.

"Don't worry; they've missed you. You'll do fine."

Lucy timidly stepped out from behind Natsu, tucking a hair behind her ear. She gave a wave and a smile.

"Hi, everyone."

* * *

 **Hey guys! So... Alright so far? I'll try to finish** **really soon, I promise!**

 **-Pyro**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Hey guys!**

 **A huge, final thank you to:**

 **aly509**

 **WordsWithoutFriends**

 **BaconDaUnicorn**

 **firequeen101**

 **yazzyjazzy**

 **hapiflower**

 **LunaWolfTheTrueMadDog- I really appreciate al the support!**

 **tears4321**

 **mayeevee**

 **Seren Luna**

 **CrackPairingsRule- You too! The dedications is really nice!**

 **BecauselamSoBored**

 **MayleeLynn64- Damn... Thank you so much for following me, my story, and then proceeding to favorite me _and_ this story! And as for your review, I mean, I _had_ to. I'm not sure if you're new to my fic, but anyone else who's actually had to wait for previous chapters to come out... they could tell you. I am _evil_ when it comes to cliffhangers. (Ask them, seriously. Someone leave a review if you agree that the end of Chapter 4 was pretty much the cruelest thing ever.)**

 **bored-outta-my-mind97- same with MaylessLynn64; thank you so much for deciding to really keep tabs on this story, and me as an author! I really am grateful. Also, a) I'm sorry if I made you so emotional you _cried,_ and b) well, now your waiting is over.**

 **AztecBrat**

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 **Aisu-Ran-field- And yes, YESSSS FINALLY THEY KISSED YAYYYY. And second, yes, Natsu really is 'a true man.'**

 **booklover21567- Fangirl all you want. I personally think** **fangirling is perfectly fine, and everyone should do it.**

 **sabrina-luna-potter- Same here! Finally, I mean, really, they're both pretty stupid for not figuring it out sooner.**

 **Cassi0chan- Thanks! I mean, I'd probably think I was hallucinating if I saw the person I loved, who I knew for a fact was dead, just randomly in my arms one morning. I'm glad yo loved it!**

 **MsCookieSmuggler- Really? (I personally thought I could've done _way better_ on the reunion scene) So, you didn't hate it? And thank you, for saying I should take my time, because that really means a lot to me. And yeah, I've heard the saying**

 **Gothazon- I know, Romeo's a riot right? (You guys support Romeo/Wendy, right? _RIGHT?)_**

 **TokyoTeddyWolf- Okay, so to address the very helpful criticism first: I MAKE SO MANY STUPID MISTAKES IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY. And yes, eventually (so, as soon as I'm done with this chapter and the other story) I am going to go back and re-read EVERY CHAPTER. Promise. (Also, my writing style just kinda sucks.) But, re-writing might take a while, because I have a thing about the word count. (Just in case no one noticed, I _always_ end the chapter so it ends in two zeroes. ALWAYS. EVERY. SINGLE. CHAPTER. IT TAKES FOREVER.) Can I ask you a favor? Next time you see a really, really horrendous error, just tell me where it is so I can fix it. (And dude, I _live_ for reviews, so thank you SO much for all your advice.)**

 **To address your first review; THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm glad I could make your day a little better! I'm glad you think I'm a wonderful person (though completely untrue), and I hope we can be friends! (Just curious, what episode were you watching?)**

 **violet tsubaki- See, I was gonna do that, but you're about to read how (the beginning part) they actually are reunited. And personally, I think the way I did it was decent.**

 **IbeWildBella- Good to hear! (That's what I was aiming for, thank god I sort-of puled it off) And yeah, you'll see how I explain the whole 'mates' thing really soon. (Like, in this chapter)**

 **Wonderwomanbatmanfan- See, I'm trying not to rush it but... I hate making you guys wait, so I tried!**

 **BlackSheep94- Really? (Honestly, I'm pretty sure that half my characters are really OOC, and the others are half-assed at best) Thanks!**

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 **BaconDaUnicorn- Yep! Sorry if I scared you a little bit. I kinda finished this chapter... and then deleted it by mistake...**

 **Thanks guys!**

* * *

For a brief moment, Magnolia thought that the entire Guild Hall of Fairy Tail had vanished.

Because for once, for the first time _ever,_ in the history of Fairy Tail since its creation (or something like that; just know that it's been a _really_ long time), not a single sound came from the massive building. Not a peep, not a whisper. Not even a footstep.

Just... nothing.

Later, when someone within the building broke the silence with a scream, civilians relaxed, knowing that the infamous and powerful guild was still alive.

But then the scream was joined by another. And another.

And... people began to worry if someone had died, or something of the sort.

Quite ironically, it was the exact opposite.

* * *

Lucy had anticipated extreme reactions. She'd walked through the heavy wooden doors, knowing full well that someone was going to cry, someone might scream, and she'd most likely be thought of as a hallucination (or ghost, or a shape-shifting imposter) initially by several people. This was Fairy Tail, after all. It had happened twice already, Lucy knew that irrational thoughts (while slightly amusing) were a common occurrence among her family.

She hadn't, however, been prepared for this.

If she hadn't known any better, she would have assumed that someone had actually frozen time.

And then...

Mira calmly waved at Lucy from behind the bar.

"Hi Lucy! Want a lemonade?"

Mira's sunny smile didn't waver in the slightest, as nearly the entire guild (of course, minus the people Lucy had encountered the night before) turned to gape at her. Unblinking, she offered her a glass of pink liquid that was almost identical to the one just inches away from Wendy's lips.

"Well someone's adjusted quite quickly," Natsu muttered.

And then the Sky Dragon Slayer screamed.

* * *

Lucy had not foreseen this outcome. Of all the things she'd been prepared for...

Bickslow fainting into the arms of Freed had not been one of those things.

She had also not expected Freed's arms to give out, and Bickslow to be dropped to the floor.

Internally, Natsu was dying of laughter. But, remembering how 'well' he'd dealt with Lucy's reappearance, he remained composed on the outside. Stifling his laugh with a well-executed cough, Natsu and Gajeel shared knowing smiles.

Juvia totally crumpled, and was caught by a knowing Levy. Gajeel smirked, roughly slapping Lauxs' back.

"Good to see you again," Gajeel chortled across at Lucy (who, I should mention, looked completely mortified as the entire guild ogled her), resulting Laxus sent him a dirty look.

Despite his withering glare, Gajeel continued sniggering at reactions throughout the room.

In spite of himself, Romeo smirked as the youngest Dragon Slayer stammered out fragments of words, lemonade forgotten on the table. He reached behind her, grabbing her cup, casually proceeding to sip from her glass.

 _Well, this'll be fun to watch._

Lisanna appeared to be in shock, Laxus was paler than the object of his affection's hair (wonder who that could be? *note the obvious sarcasm*), and... was Bisca choking?

Nope. False alarm.

Alzack, however, was.

Lucy scratched the back of her neck.

"...Hey guys..."

Lisanna screamed first.

Her lone shriek made the hairs on the back of Natsu's neck stand up.

Her scream was accompanied by another.

And another.

"Surprise... I'm not really dead..."

The first screech was abruptly cut off, as Lisanna flung herself into Lucy's arms.

"It's _you,_ " Lisanna whispered, in awe. "How can it be _you?_ "

Still squirming under all the intense gazes trained on her, Lucy managed a nervous smile.

Sagging under the weight of Lisanna, Lucy still managed to squeeze her tight.

"It's really me," Lucy promised. "And it's sort of a long story but..."

"I'm back."

* * *

Natsu really did deserve credit for managing to keep it together for so long.

Tapping his foot impatiently, he stood no more than three feet away from Lucy, who was still greeting her old friends/family members. Wendy was still sobbing into her shirt, and Juvia was attached to her other arm.

But when Macao came a bit too close for comfort (not intentionally, of course; he would dare hurt Fairy Tail's 'golden girl,' who had just been resurrected from the dead), Natsu went... ballistic.

"Get your hands off my mate!" He roared, leaping protectively in front of Lucy, causing the older man to take a step back. Gajeel sighed, sharing a knowing glance with Laxus and Wendy.

Among Dragon Slayers, it was a well known fact that they were a bit... unreasonable when it came to sharing. Whether they were first, second, or third generation Slayers, it was inevitable. Possessive tendencies were something they were all used to (it was a strong trait among Dragons as well), but it was obvious that Natsu didn't have much experience with it. Though, he was doing rather well, considering he hadn't really had something to be possessive about before.

The guild stilled for a moment, before a resounding 'aww' escaped the girls of the guild.

"Eep! That was so _cute!_ " Levy gushed.

"Hey..." Laxus eyed the demon-barmaid suspiciously. Then it clicked.

And then he was angry.

"You knew! You," he spun, pointing at Levy, "and you," he then spun to face Gajeel. He scowled.

"You all knew!"

Clearly, Laxus did not enjoy being out of the loop.

Gajeel glowered right back. Shoving a finger (you know which one) at the Lightning Dragon Slayer, Gajeel responded snarkily.

"Oi! Romeo knew about it too!" He growled, placing the blame squarely on the young boy's shoulders. "We're not the only ones at fault here!"

Romeo, almost doing a spit take, leapt to his feet indignantly.

"Hey! Why'd you bring me into this? Mira knew too!" A strange look appeared in his eyes (it had clearly been adapted from Mira's perfected look), making Laxus gulp.

Aww, goddammit, he was going to meddle, wasn't he?

"And yet, _someone_ hasn't questioned Mira yet," Romeo added the last part, knowing just how to wind him up. A smug smile was inching its way across his face. Laxus was immediately wary.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say Natsu isn't the only one who's found his mate..." Romeo trailed off suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at Laxus.

Laxus lunged at Romeo, who sidestepped his grasp easily.

"Nuh uh uh," Romeo taunted quietly. "Now, that's no way to behave in front of a lady, is it?"

Laxus froze, suddenly realizing all eyes were on him. More importantly, Mira's.

Natsu snickered quietly beside Lucy. She looked up at him.

"What is it?"

Natsu tapped one of his ears, laughing to himself. Lucy, realizing that he'd heard something he wasn't meant to (or, perhaps it had been intentional. Romeo was pretty devious, even for a kid his age), nodded. He slipped his arms around her from behind, chin resting on her shoulder. Lucy happily relaxed into him, glad that the attention was off of them.

"You _will_ be explaining this to me later," Lucy whispered. Natsu smiled, nuzzling his nose into her neck. Hugging her tighter (and secretly jumping for joy a the way her knees nearly buckled when he did),

"Of course."

Natsu, still burrowing his face into her neck, came to a standstill. Unmoving, he stared, at the mark. Lucy, feeling him freeze against her, nudged his arm.

"Natsu? Natsu, you alright?" When he didn't respond, Lucy turned, his arms still around her. He was breathing heavily through his nose, exhaling sharply. His eyes had narrowed, and they were trained on her clavicle.

Lucy tapped his forehead.

"Natsu? Natsu, c'mon, what's up?"

Craning her neck so she could see exactly what her partner was staring at, Lucy internally groaned.

The scar.

The pale, jagged line had taken him a while to notice, but now that he had, Natsu wondered how on earth he'd missed it. It was bright as day when you go close enough, but with his heightened senses it stuck out like a bright, neon sign.

Natsu growled softly.

 _Please. Of all places for him to notice and go crazy... Why here?_

Lucy silently cursed the entire universe for her rotten luck, and then turned to Natsu. Sighing, she tipped his chin up. He still didn't meet her eyes. He was preoccupied, trying to stare down the remains of her old injury.

"Hey. It's just a scar. See?" Lucy said, pointing. "It's all healed now. No use getting upset about. It's practically nothing."

But, even as she said it, Lucy knew her efforts would be in vain.

Natsu was still going to make a huge, effing deal about it.

"Lucy..." His voice stared out low. "What the hell?"

Lucy groaned.

"It's not _nothing._ It's a _scar_ ," Natsu spit the word out with obvious distaste.

"Yes Natsu, it's a scar. It's not a gaping wound or anything."

"But it once was," Natsu argued.

Lucy rolled her eyes. This was going absolutely nowhere.

"Natsu... They're just a couple of scars, what's the big-"

" _Scars?_ As in plural? As in: _more than one?_ " Natsu thundered. Lucy mentally face palmed, feeling like an idiot for even bringing that up.

 _Well, shit._

"Natsu, it's over and done with. Okay? There's-"

"No, it's not okay!"

Lucy cursed.

Aaaand... all the eyes were back on them.

"Someone left marks, _scars_ , on my _mate!"_ Wendy gasped, and even Gajeel growled. Laxus' ears perked, and he quickly straightened, stopping his attempts to grab Romeo. They all stared gravely at Lucy, and they their eyes stayed focused on the stupid mark that had cause the whole fiasco.

Solemnly bowing their head, they were glowering with rage on the inside. Even Wendy.

That was many, many levels of _not okay._

Levy was angry, as was everyone else, (someone _had_ hurt her friend after all) but they didn't quite... comprehend the extreme actions of the Dragon Slayers. She nudged Gajeel's arm, her eyes silently asking the question.

"Marking someone else's mate is... probably one of the wort- if not _the_ worst taboo among Dragon Slayers (I mean, after killing your own patron Dragon *cough cough Sting and Rogue cough cough*). When you officially become a Dragon's Mate, they mark you, as a sign of their commitment. Marking another's mate it just..."

Gajeel pointedly did not make eye contact with the Solid Script Mage, fearing he'd spontaneously combust if he looked her in the eye while explaining the _mating process_ , of all things.

Levy, however had pushed aside all thoughts and feelings of embarrassment as she practically inhaled the information. Lucy, across the room, slapped her forehead, exasperated. Her best friend was a genius, there was no denying that. But really, _really_?

 _Gajeel looks like he wants to melt into the floor, and Levy's too busy absorbing knowledge._

"Guys!" Lucy exclaimed, drawing their attention away from the healed injury and back to her face. Wisely, she tugged her sleeve down, hiding her burn mark that coiled up her arm. (Really, he'd just explode if he saw that. Better keep it hidden away for the time being.) "It's just a mark! It wasn't even a direct hit; I was just-"

Lucy cut herself off, knowing what she was about to say would not have bode well.

 _Oh yeah, just casually mention the fact that you were thrown off a train. I'm sure_ ** _that'll_ **_go over well._ Lucy thought to herself sarcastically. _And while I'm at it, I might as well mention the fact that I was actually dead for a couple seconds before going into the Spirit World._

"Natsu... Really, I'm fi-"

Lucy's knees buckled, and her vision went dark for a moment, as a surge of energy burst forward.

Natsu, of course, lurched forward, catching her before she hit the ground. Her vision cleared after a fraction of a second, and Lucy was fine. She reassuringly squeezed his hand, letting him know she was okay.

"Natsu, I'm fine. I just felt a little dizzy for a second..." Lucy trailed off, eyes widening in fear as the looked past his concerned face.

Looking up and following her gaze, Natsu saw a lean figure towered over the two, arms crossed.

Loke.

* * *

The Lion was seething, as Lucy sheepishly rubbed her neck.

"H-hey Loke..." Lucy began.

"Don't you even start with me!" Loke snapped. "You had us all worried sick! What were you thinking; doing something so reckless? I swear, leaving the Spirit World like that, _without_ a Spirit guiding you back is unimaginably dangerous! You could have gotten trapped between worlds next time! And holding us all back? What is wrong with you?"

Natsu stood, abruptly, bringing Lucy up with him.

"You... all this time... you were in the Spirit World... With _him?_ " Natsu asked, sounding as if her were being strangled.

Lucy's eyebrows quirked when she realized.

Ah.

 _Someone's jealous..._

She put a hand on his shoulder. opening her mouth to speak, Lucy prepared to explain the whole sordid ordeal. Letting her temper get the best of her and breaking that creep's nose (admittedly, he did deserve that one, and she didn't regret it in the slightest), and then impulsively taking a page from Natsu's book. Taking on one rogue mage was enough to make Natsu blow a gasket. Loke, however, beat her to the punch.

"She was dead," Loke said flatly. Lucy shot him a look.

"You couldn't have eased him into that?" Lucy hissed.

Natsu went still.

"EH?!"

"Oh? So you didn't mention? Lucy was holed up in the Spirit World, healing, because she got herself _killed._ " Loke scathingly spit out. "And before she was completely done," Lucy rolled her eyes at this. "She decided to further risk her health and jump through my gate _alone._ "

"I wasn't dead!" Lucy protested. "And I was pretty much done anyways!"

"Well your heart stopped beating! What do you call that?" Loke argued. "And while your scars won't ever completely fade, they wouldn't be so dark if you'd just _stayed put!"_

"It was only for a little while! I'm still here, aren't I? And who cares about a couple of scars?"

 _Scars? As in; **more than one?**_

Natsu looked on the verge of bursting into flames. (Quite literally, seeing as he was known for doing that when he lost his temper.)

"Excuse me?! Dead?" Natsu rounded on Lucy, who was still engaged in the argument.

"Do you even hear yourself? You were stabbed! That metal went _right through your chest!_ You were _dead._ D-E-A-D, DEAD! And your best argument is 'it was only for a little while?!" Loke began again, ignoring Natsu.

Lucy, thoroughly bashed, turned a rather alarming shade of red.

"I- well I, erm... At least I'm fine now!" Was Lucy's (poor) counter argument.

If they hadn't known any better, the majority of Fairy Tail would have thought Evergreen had looked Natsu straight in the eyes.

Loke, knowing full well that the wound had healed and that he wouldn't cause her any pain, lunged forward, grabbed Lucy by the hand, and yanked her sleeve down.

There, against her porcelain skin, was a burn mark that snaked all the way up her forearm, and the disappeared under her clothing.

"Does this look ' _fine'_ to you?" Loke snarled.

This time Natsu's eyes bugged, and even Wendy's eyes were alight with rage. The discoloration of her skin was made in a curled, deliberate pattern, making it very clear that this wound had been inflicted intentionally. It was almost like a vine, as it coiled around her wrist and traveled up her arm. (The side without the guild mark.)

Lucy harshly jerked her arm back, pulling her sleeve back down. Her voice was pained when she responded.

"I know, _Loke._ I have eyes. I know I'm damaged. You don't need to tell me," Lucy said, her voice strained. Loke, sighing, tok off his glasses to rub his eyes. He kneeled in front of her, tipping his head down in shame.

"Lucy... I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry." The look in her eyes softened, and she pulled him back up by the arm.

"I know you didn't."

Natsu stepped in now, directing Lucy's attention back to him.

"This," he began, gently inspecting her arms. His fingers skimmed over the line, tracing the patten with a feather light touch. She shivered. His voice sounded strange, almost trance-like as he tried to keep his face blank of emotion.

"Are these burn marks?"

Oh, fate was cruel indeed.

And apparently, it had a twisted sense of humor.

When she didn't answer, he asked again.

Lucy hesitantly nodded.

 _Burn._

 _Someone burned her._

"Natsu, it's just a mark," Lucy quickly added. "Please, Natsu. It's not a big deal."

Lucy was almost pleading with him now, asking him to just ignore it.

"Who did it?" Natsu asked, voice low. "Who the fuck did this to _MY LUCY?!"_

"Natsu... calm down. Please. For me," Lucy begged. Reluctantly, he straightened, his muscles still staring as he took in deep breaths. Sharply inhaling and exhaling through his nostrils, Natsu was simmering with rage. Lucy could feel the temperature climbing dangerously high. Her breathing was becoming labored, and the whole rom was becoming fuzzy around the edges.

"Natsu," Loke hissed in his ear. "Lucy just recovered. Go outside before you _hurt her_."

Natsu, jumped up, alarmed at the very thought of bringing harm to his mate.

"Lucy," he growled, trying to keep his temper in check. "I'm going outside. I'll be right back."

She gave Loke a grateful look, before giving Natsu a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be waiting."

As her lion escorted Natsu outside, Lucy gave a sigh of relief.

"You must be crazy if you think he's going to just let it go," Lucy heard a gruff voice from behind her.

Gajeel had decided to bestow his words of wisdom unto her.

"Even if you weren't mates, do you really think Salamander over here would just let something like that go? If someone had hurt your _soul mate_ of all things, how would you react?" Gajeel asked, as he was bombarded of the first time he had met Levy. And crucified her to the big tree.

Wincing, he pushed that aside, knowing that those memories were an issue to deal with at another time. That could wait.

First, Dragneel and Bunny Girl needed to get their shit together.

And apparently, they were going to need all the help they could get. (Blondie really did have a knack for getting into trouble, didn't she? Getting herself into deep, deep shit seemed to be a talent of hers.)

"You might not understand this yet, because yes, I get it, Dragneel might not have had time to explain it yet. Whatever. You were resurrected what, just last night? Fine. But understand this," Gajeel said, moving closer.

"Mates are a special thing to us. We get one. Only one. We stay with them _forever._ It's not some pathetic 'marriage,'" Gajeel sneered the word, as if insulted by the very idea of it. "-that you humans do. When I say that you are his _'soul mate'_ I mean it. When you officially, erm, _mate,"_ Gajeel put finger quotes in the air as he spoke, knowing she'd understand what he meant. (He was _not_ going to explain the reproductive system with all these people in the room. Especially Asuka.)

"-Natsu and you will be sort of... connected. Bonded, I guess. He'll pretty much be offering his _soul_ to you on a silver platter, and if you except, then you're marked when you..." He coughed. "Do the deed."

Wendy, still standing behind Lucy, pushed to the front.

"But Gajeel," she said, voice quivering. "You remember what happens if she says no, right?" Gajeel sighed, giving her a glare.

"Okay, well come on, look at them! Did you see that mushy display before he left? Do you honestly think that would ever happen?" Gajeel questioned.

" Well duh. But I mean, it's just good for her to know, right?"

Gajeel sighed, running a hand through his unruly black mane.

"Well then, Blondie, listen up." He inched closer, crossing his arms.

"You reject him, he dies."

* * *

Natsu roared, letting loose another pillar of flame.

Panting, Natsu swiped the sweat from his brow, flicking the moisture to the ground.

Loke, grabbed him by the arm, pulling him in the direction of the guild doors.

"I think you've cooled down enough. Let's go back?"

"Honestly, I think I might explode if I have to hear her dismiss her scars one more time," Natsu admitted as they walked.

"...you know she's just trying to not upset you."

"Are you really going to go along with her stupid 'I'm totally fine' act?"

"No," Loke answered flatly. "I can honestly say that she's being ridiculous, and she's obviously not fooling anyone. But, she is just trying to calm you down..."

Natsu scoffed.

"Well, it's not working, and it won't ever so she should just drop the act."

They walked in a comfortable silence for a few seconds, before Natsu hesitantly spoke up.

"...was Lucy really dead?" Natsu asked softly.

Loke didn't respond for another few steps, dragging his feet.

"Yeah." Came his soft answer. "Yeah, she really was. For a few moments, yes. I'm sorry, for almost getting your mate killed Natsu."

Natsu shook his head.

"You don't have to apologize. After all, you were the one to save her life. I wasn't even there," Natsu murmured. "At least you did something right. If I hadn't been such an idiot, maybe she wouldn't have needed you to save her."

"You can't blame yourself for something like that," Loke chided. "And anyway, there's nothing you can do about it at this point. It's all in the past, and you can't change it."

Natsu sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me, I'm sure."

"He _dies?!_ " Lucy shrieked.

"Well I mean, he'll be heartbroken. And pretty much after that, he'll just stop functioning and wither away," Laxus cut in. "Not that it's going to be a problem for you two; seeing you now, you're like the poster couple for newlyweds. And you haven't even officially mated yet."

"Blondie, what the hell did you expect? He's literally offering his _soul_ and being to you. You'll be his entire world, his purpose for existing. At least, that's what being mated supposedly feels like."

Lucy, breathing deeply as to not be overwhelmed by the sudden rush of information, looked over at Levy for help.

Levy, shell shocked at the sudden discovery (and the fact that Laxus and Gajeel were both being so... open and helpful on the topic), quickly recovered. Tucking a wavy strand behind her ear, Levy tapped her chin.

"Well, I guess it would make sense. Compiling it with other information from other resources, it would certainly fit," Levy reasoned. "What's strange is, I've never seen it mentioned in any book. How mating could go wrong, I mean."

Laxus snorted (at both her statement an the look on Gajeel face as they continued to talk about mating).

"That's probably because it's something we don't like to talk about," he said gruffly. "Usually, we just pass it down among Dragon Slayers. I didn't know about it until Flame-Brain out there," he jerked his head in the direction of the door. "-told me about it when he joined the guild."

"Oh yeah... I forgot... you didn't have a Dragon to tell you about everything," Lucy recalled.

"Yeah, but I managed just fine, didn't I?"

Dreamily staring off, Mira, who was listening (along with everybody else), sighed.

"Yeah... you really did."

* * *

When he entered, Natsu made a beeline for Lucy.

"Hey," he said, smothering her in a hug.

"I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. I just got... upset."

"It's okay Natsu. Do you maybe wanna talk about it later?" Lucy suggested, desperate to keep it all together for the time being.

He nodded against her neck, slowly but surely.

"Natsu?"

"Yes Luce?" He responded, his voice muffled.

"... Can we go to my grave?"

* * *

Sniffling, Erza lay the white lily on the smooth stone.

It was followed by another, this time put down by a paw.

And another.

Erza, crouching, placed a shaky hand on the headstone.

"We miss you Lucy," she spoke, her voice quivering.

"All of us," Gray added, crouching next to Erza. Happy, standing (though, he was _still_ shorter than the other two), smiled up at the sky.

"We brought you flowers," Erza finally managed. "We just wanted to visit. We just got back from a job." Erza smiled, thinking of how much Lucy would've liked the small town they'd passed through.

"I wish you could've come with us," Erza smiled. "The town we went though on the way home... There was this _massive_ book store. You would have loved it. There were thousands of books. You would've been like a kid in a candy store."

She sniffled.

"I know, that it's been three months already, " Erza said, dropping to sit in the grass. Her head hung low. "But I just can't- I still can't believe you're really gone."

Hiccuping, Erza felt Gray rubbing soothing circles in her back.

There were no spoken words, as they mourned together.

Titania might have been the strongest woman Gray had ever met, but in the past few weeks, he'd seen her crumple and shatter more times than he could count on his fingers. It was heartbreaking.

Though, not as heartbreaking as knowing that Lucy's memory was being reduced to a fuzzy face and a blurred smile.

It was horrible, waking up every morning and remembering less and less about his teammate. His friend. Some days he couldn't even remember what her face looked like.

For all of them, Lucy was fading.

Once, Erza had almost had a heart attack, not being able to recall Lucy's eye color.

Then, an old issue of Sorcerer Weekly had been gifted to them, courtesy of Mirajane. There, smiling at them, was Lucy Heartfilia, the first day of the Grand Magic Games.

And of course, the arm of Natsu Dragneel had been slung around her shoulders. Gray stood on the other side, leaning on her. Elfman and Erza flanked the trio in front, looking heroic (and 'manly') as always.

Fairy Tail Team A.

 _I'd rather go through a hundred Dragons, and Future Rogue, and another 100 monsters than lose you,_ Erza thought to herself solemnly. It was only a second later did she realize she'd spoken aloud.

"I feel the same way, Lucy," Gray said, looking directly at the unblemished stone. As if staring right at her. "We all do. Even if we can't remember every detail about you, we'll always remember _you._

"Because we're family."

* * *

Hands linked, Lucy and Natsu made their way past the empty slot, where Lisanna's grave had once stood.

Climbing up the hill, Natsu pointed at the stone path that would eventually lead to her grave.

"That way. Just a little farther," Natsu promised. Turning, so he could walk backwards, he smiled at Lucy. Lucy, impressed, gave I'm an appraising look.

"Well, someone certainly knows their way around here," Lucy said, only half-joking. Natsu shrugged, not bothered in the slightest at her observation.

"Of course," he said, unashamed "I came just about every day. Sometimes even twice."

Lucy stopped.

"Really?"

"You really must be an idiot." Natsu muttered, picking Lucy up and proceeding to hike up the pathway.

"I love you, you big dummy."

Lucy giggled, kissing him on the nose.

"Well I love you too."

And so, the princess rode the loyal, lovestruck dragon all the way to her grave.

Literally.

Imagine the surprise of the beautiful princess, and the bewilderment of the fiery dragon when they found three knights already there waiting for them.

* * *

 **Hey guys!** **So, okay?**

 **-Pyro**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

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 **ObscurityDays**

 **Xxthefeelsxx**

 **Nashi**

 **Daddys little crazy bitch- again, thank you so much for all of your support, and I really am glad you like it so much! (oh, and interesting** **username...)**

 **MsCookieSmuggler**

 **DaughterFrost**

 **Okay guys, I am SO SORRY about this, but for this chapter, because there were so many amazing reviews, I was unfortunately unable to respond to all of them. And I thought about it and I decided that I didn't want to only respond to some of them, because that would be majorly unfair. Instead, I'm going to mention everyone who was kind enough to leave a comment.**

 **Also, if you still want responses after this chapter, just let me know in a review or a PM, and I'll add a whole extra 'chapter' of just me responding to you guys.**

 **So, this goes out to:**

 **yazzyjazzy**

 **sabrina-luna-potter**

 **AvaMarie234**

 **Cassi0chan**

 **TokyoTeddyWolf (Okay, I know I said I wouldn't respond to any of them, but I owe you a huge thanks for helping me correct my previous errors. Also, I wasn't able to find your fan art, but thank you so much! If you possibly can, I'd love for you to help me locate it!)**

 **Miss Jackson Grayson-Barton**

 **BrokenPiecesOfHell**

 **Wonderwomanbatmanfan**

 **FairyTail555**

 **IbeWildBella124**

 **Gothazon**

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 **Xxthefeelsxx]**

 **Daddy little crazy bitch**

 **Lindeee**

 **And for the love of go, if you are a guest, please leave a name so I can thank you properly!**

 **READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT: Anyway, I owe you all an apology. I know I said I would, but I will not be able to post my new story as soon as I'd hoped, I hit a serious wall, and I'm just working around my writer's block. I promise, though, I'll have it out the second I finish it, which shouldn't be too long from now.**

 **And by the way, there's like, implied sex towards the end of this so... Yeah... Just keep that in mind...**

 **And lastly... thank you all. For being such an amazing audience, and for helping me out so much along the way. This has been an amazing journey, and I'm hoping that I'll still be able to talk to all of you through my upcoming fic. Thank you for making this an amazing experience.**

 **Now, right below, is the last chapter of Stronger. Hope you like it!**

* * *

It wasn't hard for Natsu to identify the half-naked man sitting by Lucy's grave.

Or in other words, Gray Fullbuster.

The dark-haired Ice Mage, missing half of his clothes like always, was speaking softly, according to Natsu's attuned hearing.

 _"And the guy who put up the mission, you should have seen his house Lucy. His personal library... You would have loved it,"_ he was saying softly _._ Ah.

So it was time for that already. Natsu had forgotten, that those three had just finished a mission. He should have known to expect them here.

It had become a tradition to come here after ever job, and tell 'Lucy' about everything she'd missed.

Judging by the scarlet hair and the little ball of blue fur, Team Natsu was about to become whole again. Right but Lucy's grave.

And Natsu was completely dreading it.

Not that he didn't _want_ his family to be reunited, quite the opposite actually.

But he'd quite frankly had enough tears in the past couple of months (especially the last two days) to last him a lifetime. Forever, actually. And judging by the strong connections with the only three members still in the dark...

There were sure to be more tears. Soon.

Natsu put Lucy down, grabbing her hand in his. Fingers laced together, Natsu pointed to the slab of stone protruding from the ground.

"There, that's it."

Lucy squinted, still not seeing the thing Natsu was gesturing to in the distance.

Natsu put a finger to his lips as the approached, and the bright colors and distinctive features just now becoming clear to Lucy. Though his wings were nowhere to be seen, Lucy would recognize the little Exceed anywhere. (Besides, how many bright blue cats did she know?)

Padding over softly, Natsu took the lead, with Lucy trailing not far behind.

"Hey guys," he said in a soft voice.

"Hey Natsu," they chorused, not looking away. Gray then continued with his story. The two sat in the grass behind the trio, Lucy unable to work up the courage to speak. Her lips were frozen, and it felt like her. Eyes locked on her own name carved into stone, Lucy shivered.

How to even start? How was she supposed to break the silence looming over them. (That is, other than Gray's gentle murmurs in the background.)

Lucy hadn't noticed it before, but laying on her grave (okay for anyone who's confused, this is one of those graves with a headstone and a connected platform/bottom part) were flowers.

White lilies.

Three of them.

"And Natsu... We got this for you," Erza added, "So you have something to give to Lucy too."

A fire lily.

Praising Mavis when Erza didn't turn around (he truly feared that she'd suffer from a heart attack as a result), Natsu took the vibrant flower when she held it out. (They _really_ had a thing for lilies, didn't they?)

The petals looked like the spitting image of a sky as the sun was setting, he noted absentmindedly. As if Reedus had taken his paintbrush and copied the sight of Magnolia sky at sunset.

Eyes closed, Erza was surprised when Natsu spoke, and seemed... happy. Peaceful even. Gray also reached out to squeeze Erza's hand, eyes closed as well. During the crisis, it seemed they'd grown closer. (Don't worry, it's not a Gray/Erza fic, I don't really ship them...)

"Well, Luce. I don't know how many times I can say it. But I really am, truly sorry for leaving you behind that day," Natsu said, genuinely meaning every word. He turned, facing away from her grave to look at her personally. "And I'm not sure if I'll ever get to repay you. But I know, I have the rest of my life to try. And I swear, I will."

Gray, finding his promise a bit strange, said nothing.

"We all are," Erza spoke, beginning to tear up. "Lucy, we are so, _so_ sorry for what we did. And we have the rest of our lives to make up for our crime."

"Erza, stop that nonsense right now," Natsu demanded, cutting Lucy off before she could interrupt. Heads jerked up in surprise.

"Natsu, what the hell?" Gray demanded. He stood, back towards Lucy. "Are you okay?"

Natsu was desperately trying to keep Gray's eyes on him, as Lucy tried to figured out how to make her voice work again. Her lips moved silently, an apology already forming on her tongue. As if reading her mind, Natsu shot her a glare over Gray's shoulder.

 _Don't you fucking dare. Don't you even go there,_ was how she interpreted that look. Turns out, she actually was very good at silent conversations with her mate. The whole 'connected' thing... Who knew?

Lucy, stepping forward slowly, wrapped her arms around Gray's torso.

Sniffling, tears were just beginning to glaze her eyes over.

Though it had only been about week for her (remember, they left for a mission and she didn't get sucked into the Spirit World) Lucy had missed her teammates. All of them. Even the stupid stripper who had a habit of scarring anyone unaware of his... 'quirk.' It usually tended to be the elderly and children. (From people their age the reactions were less negative. Guys sometimes deemed him worthy of a head nod, and girls... either called him a pervert or swooned.)

Gray groaned.

"Juvia, now really isn't the time. You know we kind of... have an unsaid thing about the visit after missions," Gray said, fists clenched, as he tried to keep his temper. Breathing heavily, he forced himself to open his closed fist and smooth back his hair.

Lucy didn't move, her sob muted against his back.

"I thought you understood!" He nearly shouted. He was shaking now. "Why can't you just go?! Everyone else does! First Lisanna, and then Lucy! I can't-" He stopped himself short.

"Why is it so easy for them to leave us?"

Maybe Lisanna had returned, and maybe she hadn't actually died. Fine. But... that didn't mean they hadn't mourned for her. They all knew this ache too well... The empty feeling in the pits of their stomachs. Something lodging itself in their throat when they tried to speak, turning it into a sob.

Gray knew the feeling.

Actually, it was what he was he was experiencing at that very second.

Taking a breath in that made his whole body shudder, Gray felt the arms around him tighten, squeezing him in a hug. Lucy was shaking her head, trying to get her stupid body to move, to function, to do _anything_ but for the love of god... just stop Gray's hurting.

Natsu, not the least bit jealous of Gray at that moment, simply crouched down to look up at Gray. Hell, Natsu might have gone berserk on 'Juvia' (or anyone who interrupted the traditional visit for that matter) back then too. Before she'd come back to him.

But she had come back to him and now... it was time her her to come back to _them._

Happy turned, ready to apologize, and maybe try to explain.

"Juvia, don't take it personally, but today's just been-"

Happy garbled his own words, as he realized that the figure currently in the process of slowly suffocating Gray was most definitely _not_ that of Juvia Loxar. (One thing that clued him in was the fact that this figure was not dressed in blue.) He started from his eyes level, meaning her knees. Moving up, there was the continuous lack of blue.

And that whip; the weapon was curled in a tidy coil, secured onto her hip. (Lucy had asked Loke to retrieve all of her stuff from the Spirit world. In her haste to leave, and more importantly to see Natsu, she'd left her precious things behind.)

And then there were the keys, dangling from a hook at said girl's waist.

Keys.

 _Keys._

It didn't take a genius to figure it out. (And unless it was regarding an aspect of fish, the blue Exceed was _definitely_ no genius.)

Happy willed himself to look up after that, yanking his head up to meet the face of the girl slowly separating from the Ice Mage.

And for the first few seconds, he was almost sorry he had.

He had met eyes with a corpse.

Or, rather, what should have been a corpse. But her cheeks were pink and wet with tears, and her eyes were gleaming. Her blonde hair wasn't limp and pale, like the rest of her should have been. Biting her lip nervously, Lucy trembled, despite her long sweater. (The one she was constantly pulling down to hide the scar, Natsu noticed with much displeasure.)

Dumbstruck, Happy's eyes began to water. He looked as if he wasn't sure if he'd been lifted to heaven... or if he'd just gone and plummeted straight into the depths of hell. He had to be dreaming. Because...

Happy decided he didn't care if he was dreaming.

Throwing all caution to the wind, he barreled into her knees, packing a surprising amount of power for a cat. Falling to the ground with an 'oomph,' Lucy found herself sprawled on the ground with a crying blue furball bawling into her shirt. Gray straightened and shot him a scowl, or at least he tried to. 'Juvia' had really done a number on him with that iron grip, and he was trying to find some feeling in his ribs.

But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the teary, gently smiling 'ghost' stroking the head to the sniveling feline. Scratching his scalp, Lucy cooed softly, like she used to.

They might not have been as close as he was to Lucy, but Gray had definitely cried the day a member of his family had left him. At Lisanna's death, he'd definitely shed a few tears. Hiding behind the crowd, Gray wiped his tears away with his sleeve. (Miraculously, he'd actually managed to keep his clothes on for the entire day.)

Then, he'd cried when yet another person was taken from him. At Lucy's funeral... Though it may have been raining, the raindrops couldn't conceal the puffy eyes or the red cheeks. He hadn't been fooling anyone then, and he hadn't cared. He'd let the torrential rain pound down on him relentlessly, as he wore his heart on his sleeve like an open book.

And now, he was crying again.

"...Lucy?"

* * *

The unusually long silence didn't tip Erza off. It was, after all, a graveyard. A place for mourning.

Sometimes Natsu went silent for days. He didn't speak, he only sat huddled up in a corner. Those days, he forgot to eat, if they didn't come by the house and make him.

Compared to that, what was a few seconds? Maybe a minute?

Erza didn't notice until she heard a the name. The forbidden name.

Whirling around, was ready to hiss at Gray for Natsu's sake.

And then she nearly choked.

Lucy rose, stepping closer with cautious steps.

Still cradling the blue bundle of fur, Lucy held out one hand to Gray. He took it, eyes locked on the pink mark that he was just touching the edge of with his tips of his fingers.

Warm.

 _She's... warm._

He could feel the heat, radiating off of her skin. He could feel her pulse, right as he grasped at her wrist with his other hand. Lucy, kind of knowing how to start (she _had_ done this several times), squeezed his hand reassuringly. He squeezed back. With a smile, Lucy tilted to see around Gray's figure.

"Hi guys," she greeted warmly. "Hello Erza."

* * *

You know that horrible feeling of déjà vu you sometimes get?

It was sort of like that.

Except, a thousand times worse.

It was like reliving a memory, seeing something that looked so familiar, something that triggered old memories for Erza that she hadn't revisited in a long time. But that could wait.

Erza rose, not breaking eye contact with the apparition before her, fearing that is she blinked, the image would disappear. Her knees nearly gave out on her twice on the way up, and the sounds coming from her mouth suggested that she was sobbing. As did the tremors racking her entire chest.

Teetering forwards, Erza did nothing to stop the ground from coming up to hit her in the face. Natsu however, saw her falling a mile away, and leapt forwards to catch her. Erza, didn't react to the hands swooping in from nowhere, as she was still preoccupied by gaping at the Celestial Mage.

Lucy simply smiled softly, after glancing back down at the little feline who appeared to have gone into shock. And for a second, her eyes slid to the left.

Natsu and Lucy smiled at each other for a moment there, sharing a look so full of emotion, just witnessing it felt as if they were intruding.

Natsu gave a small nod, his head tilting forward ever so slightly, urging Lucy to go on. Lucy's shoulders set with determination, as she tried to figure out the least painful way to re-establish herself in their lives.

Natsu, after uprighting Erza on her feet, walked over to take Happy from Lucy's arms. Carefully lifting the blue Exceed from her arms, Natsu was startled when Happy suddenly began to struggle. Happy was writhing around in Natsu's arms, desperately trying to escape.

"NO!" Happy wailed. "LUCY!" And with that, the little cat leapt from Natsu's arms, and clung to Lucy's leg like a petulant child. Stuck to her as if his life depended on it, Happy was bawling, rivers of tears pouring down.

Gray and Erza, however, were still frozen in their tracks, shock penetrating them to their very souls. Gray just couldn't- He couldn't makes his limbs obey him. His arms, his legs, even his mouth seemed to be unresponsive to the orders his brain was practically screaming.

 _MOVE! Dammit, just move!_

Gray's mind was going haywire, was he tried to force his lips to form the words. Or even for his hand, clasped by hers, to twitch. His mind was positively chaotic, as he tried to struggle through what he was feeling, and what he knew, all the while juggling the possible causes behind the phenomenon. Erza, on the other hand, seemed to be doing the exact opposite.

She, unlike Gray, seemed to be shutting down, unable to process what was in front of her.

"But... What...?" Erza stuttered

Natsu gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze from behind, ushering her forwards. Brushing a scarlet lock aside, he leaned in closer, almost breathing into her ear.

"C'mon. Go say hi," he encouraged. When she still didn't move, he rolled his eyes. _Ugh. Girls sometimes. All these feelings and stuff._

Even Gray didn't react when Natsu poked him in the back of the neck.

 _Okay, I officially concede. You're on your own,_ Natsu said in a look as he submitted, raising his hands in defeat. _I clearly have no idea how to handle this._

Lucy, triumphant, wisely hid her grin with a well-timed cough. With both her hands free, with Happy now clinging to her like he'd been glued to her, Lucy awkwardly stepped forward, dragging her heavier leg behind her. Gritting her teeth against the pain, as she was using her injured leg, Lucy prayed that Natsu didn't notice.

Like hell he wouldn't.

The moment the first jolt of pain shot up her leg, Natsu swiftly moved in, a hand on her shoulder.

"Luce, what's wrong?" Waving him aside, Lucy whispered a quick _"Not now,"_ and proceeded to yank them all into a group hug.

"It's me."

And then Lucy stared to sob, which then led to Erza beginning to cry, and then Gray was tearing up and Happy was still bawling... And Natsu, he was counting his blessings for having had his little reunion in private. If he'd

"I missed you all so much."

* * *

"I'm so sorry," Lucy began, still engulfed in the massive hug. "I am so, so sorry for leaving you guys. I didn't mean to be gone for so long, and there was this accident and I-"

"We're sorry for taking a mission without you!" Erza blurted, interrupting. "I'm sorry we left you behind and we really didn't mean to but it just happened and we realized you weren't with us almost as soon as we left, but Natsu seemed upset and really he just wanted some space so we figured that maybe he just needed to cool off-"

"Erza, calm down," Lucy instructed, interrupting her rant. "I know. There's nothing for you to apologize for." Gray, usually a man of few words, decided to put in his two cents.

"Well, it's not like you have anything to apologize for either, Lucy. You were almost killed in an accident, from what we heard. We're just happy you're-" he choked, more tears coming to his eyes at just the thought of it. "-that you're still alive and with us. You don't have to say sorry for anything."

"Lucy..." Happy whined through tears. Lucy bent down, picking up the little Exceed. Cradling him like a baby as the group embrace broke apart, Lucy smiled at him. She tickled his nose with a slender finger, earning a giggle from him. Rubbing between his ears, Lucy affectionately looked up at Natsu.

"Well Lucy, you did it," Natsu finally managed, happy tears springing in his eyes.

"You're finally home."

* * *

That day, in Magnolia... It was a good day.

Because once again, Fairy Tail was whole again.

Walking back to Natsu house (as Lucy's stuff was still in the basement of the Guild Hall), Lucy linked their hands together. Happy was staying with Carla for the moment, deciding to give the two newfound mates a little... space. (*winks suggestively and then realizes how awkward this must be for you and how awkward I felt after writing that*)

Opening the front door, Natsu barely hesitated before scooping Lucy up and carrying her over the threshold. She smacked his chest playfully, kissing his cheek.

"You don't have to do that you know," Lucy told him as he proceeded to walk her up the stairs. "My legs do work... " Natsu snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Silly Lucy. Of course I know that." Suddenly leaning in close, so close that his lips were practically on her ear, Natsu whispered "But don't you know it's tradition for the guy to carry the girl all the way into the house and into their room?"

Blushing a bright scarlet once she realized what he was suggesting, Lucy squealed.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried. "What are you- We're not marri- I mean-"

"Relax Luce, I was just joking, " Natsu said with a devilish grin. "For now."

Still a bright red, and refusing to look him in the eye, Lucy huffed. Natsu jostled her then, as he kicked open the room to his door. Gasping in surprise, Lucy clung to him tighter. Looking up, she realized, he was shaking.

With laughter.

"You jerk!" She yelled, half-heartedly punching him in the shoulder. "You actually scared me!"

Putting her down on his bed, he lifted her chin with a finger.

"Sorry Lucy, I couldn't help myself." He sat down next to her then, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "You're cute when you're angry." Lucy rolled her eyes, smiling regardless. She moved in closer, sliding a hand up the back of his neck and into his hair. Feeling the soft pink locks with her fingers, Lucy grinned, before pulling him in for a kiss.

Lips sliding against each other, Lucy could feel Natsu smirking, as she continued to melt into the kiss. Natsu suddenly pulled back, clearing his throat awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Hey, Lucy?"

"Yeah Natsu? What's wrong?"

"You know the thing I was joking about earlier, with me carrying you to my room to-" Natsu nearly stumbled over his words, cheeks just beginning to turn the color of his hair. "-y'know, do stuff. But I, uh... I won't push you. I know that it's a big decision, because that's when we officially become mates and I just want you to know that I'll wait for you. Whenever you're ready. I'm not going to rush you into anything."

Lucy nodded, smoothing her hair back.

"Natsu, I'm ready. I don't need to think about anything. I love you. I just thought, you know... Maybe you wanted to wait so you could get used to the idea of me being back, and I just thought that you wanted to wait-"

"No!" Natsu burst out, his blush immediately intensifying. Lucy raised an amused eyebrow at him. He scrambled, trying to rephrase. "I just... We don't have to wait! I mean, oh god what do I mean? I'm just trying to say that... I love you too Lucy. With everything I have, and I'm ready for you to become my mate, but I don't want to rush you into something you might regret-"

"Regret? Natsu, I think you must be more exhausted than I thought, if you're thinking something as stupid as that," Lucy said with a dangerous edge in her voice. "Natsu, I want to be your mate. Really."

"Are you sure Lucy? I know you love me, and believe me, I love you with all my heart, but I just think if you want to wait-"

Lucy pounced on him then, her lips colliding with his, as she pushed him onto his back.

"You idiot," she hissed, "All I want is you, dummy." Lucy made another move, this time capturing his bottom lip, sucking gently. He moaned, his hands traveling upwards to tangle themselves in her hair. Cupping his face gently Lucy pulled away, both of the mages gasping or breath

"And to be your mate."

And so the kissing began again. One thing led to another and... Needless to say, things escalated from there.

Let's just say the Natsu had officially gained himself a mate and lost any doubts about her feelings by the end of the night.

* * *

Natsu woke up feeling... complete. The sun wasn't even out yet, but he seemed to be glowing.

Looking down, he saw an angel snuggled up against his bare chest.

His Lucy, his mate.

Officially, this time.

She was still asleep, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. Affectionately kissing her forehead, Natsu pulled the covers up higher around both of them.

Tracing patterns in the smooth skin of her back, Natsu smiled.

 _Finally._

 _Me and my mate... My Lucy._

With that final thought, Natsu let his eyes slowly shut, as he drifted off to sleep.

And so began their new forever, this time as mates, instead of just teammates.

It was... bliss.

* * *

 **Hey guys. Just wanted to say once again, thank you all for making this such an amazing experience. Thank you for your support, and your critiques. Thank you for faithfully reading my story. Most of all, thank you for making me feel like this story... actually meant something.**

 **Goodbye for now,**

 **-Pyro**


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